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Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
T. J. Dolan*
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 16 | Number 2 | September 1989 | Pages 149-156
Technical Paper | Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A29144
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The one-dimensional equilibrium code BPROF is used to calculate the plasma inductance as a function of beta and pinch parameter θ, and the results are represented by an algorithm. The attainable poloidal flux is calculated for a variety of cases, using the CCOIL code, to derive simple algorithms representing the ohmic heating (OH) and equilibrium field (EF) fluxes in terms of dimensionless parameters. Assuming a temperature scaling relationship with plasma current and size, the loop voltage equation is integrated to find the flux consumed versus the pulse length. This plasma equation is combined with the flux and inductance algorithms to estimate the attainable plasma pulse length, in terms of the peak magnetic field at the coil and the plasma and coil dimensions. The attainable pulse length depends mainly on the major radius. With R = 4 m, a/R = 0.12, and I = 10 MA, a pulse length of ∼15 s is predicted. The voltage drop due to helicity edge loss is a major uncertainty. The main value of this work is the derivation of simple equations for calculating plasma inductance, OH and EF coil fluxes, and plasma pulse length, without having to run BPROF, CCOIL, and plasma transport codes.
