Seattle-based USNC-Tech has gotten the green light from NASA to continue development of a rapid-response spacecraft that would use a nuclear-powered propulsion system for deep-space exploration.
The company’s proposed Nyx mission is one of six projects receiving Phase II grants from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, or NIAC. Each grant provides up to $600,000 of support over the course of two years to follow up on Phase I NIAC projects.
USNC-Tech, the advanced-technology arm of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., has been working on a next-generation radioisotope thermoelectric generator known as EmberCore. RTGs are basically batteries powered by the decay of radioactive material. They’ve been used for decades for missions ranging from Apollo moonshots to Mars rover treks and deep-space odysseys. EmberCore promises to provide 10 times as much electrical power as the current generation of RTGs.
For the Nyx mission, USNC-Tech envisions adapting EmberCore for an electric propulsion system that could propel a spacecraft to extremely high speeds. “The spacecraft architecture is capable of incredible delta-V on the order of 50-100 km/s,” USNC-Tech’s Christopher Morrison says in the company’s proposal. That would translate to 110,000 to 220,000 mph.
Such spacecraft could theoretically catch up with mysterious interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua, which zoomed through our solar system in 2017. Other potential missions include detection of objects in the far-flung Kuiper Belt, parallax microlensing to look for free-floating planets, and fast trips beyond the solar system’s zodiacal glow.
The Phase II grant would fund an analysis of issues relating to mission requirements, supply chains, regulatory launch approval, assembly, integration and testing, as well as the production of a laboratory-scale radioisotope system. A full-scale demonstration of the system could become the focus of a future funding phase.
In a news release, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the Nyx concept and other NIAC projects “will help empower researchers to usher in new technologies that could revolutionize exploration in the heavens and improve daily life here on Earth.”
The other five Phase II NIAC awards announced today support these concepts:
FarView Observatory – A Large, In-Situ Manufactured, Lunar Far Side Radio Array: This concept would create a massive radio telescope array on the moon’s far side, autonomously constructed using resources extracted from the moon’s regolith. Principal investigator: Ronald Polidan, Lunar Resources Inc. in Texas.
A Flexible, Personalized, On-Demand Astropharmacy: This concept would use bacteria to create medical drugs on demand during extended spaceflight missions, including a class of drugs that could be used to treat radiation exposure or help protect astronauts’ bone health in space. Principal investigator: Lynn Rothschild, NASA Ames Research Center in California.
PI – Planetary Defense: This concept could provide Earth with a rapid response capability to mitigate a disastrous impact from an asteroid or comet by pulverizing the object into pieces small enough to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. Principal investigator: Philip Lubin, University of California at Santa Barbara.
Quantum Rydberg Radar for Surface, Topography, and Vegetation: This concept would use dynamically tunable quantum radar technology to improve remote sensing studies of Earth and other worlds, using reflected ground signals from other orbiting spacecraft to eliminate the need for large antenna deployments. Principal investigator: Darmindra Arumugam, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Silent, Solid-State Propulsion for Advanced Air Mobility Vehicles: This concept aims to develop nearly silent electro-aerodynamic thrusters for vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that could be used to transport cargo and eventually passengers over short distances in urban areas. Principal investigator: Steven Barrett, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
