Considerations for Launching a Nuclear Fission Reactor for Space-based Missions

摘要

The United States has limited experience launching nuclear reactors into space to provide power for satellites. A single reactor, the SNAP 10A was launched in 1965, but since that time forty-one Radioisotope Power Sources (RPS) have been launched on thirty-one missions. There are significant differences between the design, manufacturing, operation, and testing of a Fission Power Source (FPS) and an RPS. Likewise, the launch of an FPS for space-based missions has its own unique design, manufacturing, and testing requirements and therefore merits a new examination of launch safety issues.