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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Robert R. Peterson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 13 | Number 2 | February 1988 | Pages 279-289
Technical Paper | Heavy-Ion Fusion | doi.org/10.13182/FST88-A25105
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The limits on the cavity gas density required for beam propagation and condensation times for material vaporized by target explosions can determine the maximum repetition rate of heavy-ion fusion (HIF) driven reactors. If the ions are ballistically focused onto the target, the cavity gas must have a density below roughly 3 × 1012cm-3 at the time of propagation; other propagation schemes may allow densities as high as 1 Torr or more. In some reactor designs, several kilograms of material may be vaporized from the target chamber walls by target-generated X rays, raising the average density in the cavity to 3 × 1018 cm-3 or more. A one-dimensional combined radiation hydrodynamics and vaporization and condensation computer code has been used to simulate the vaporization and condensation of material in the target chambers of HIF reactors. Repetition rates in excess of 1 Hz are possible in the three types of target chambers studied. Means of increasing allowable repetition rates are discussed.