Future Power Solutions for Exploring Hypothesized Surfaces – Future Fusion-Based Power Solutions for Exploring Hypothesized Surfaces
INSTITUTION
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
CLASS
Iridium Class (2024 – 2025)
STUDENT TEAM
Terran Butler, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Nuclear Concentration
Preston Warnock, Mechanical Engineering
Autumn Brown, Mechanical Engineering, Minors in Physics and Aerospace Engineering
ACADEMIC GUIDANCE
Dr. Lane Carasik (VCU academic advisor)
Trevor Franklin
Andrew Hutsell
(both Dr. Carasik’s graduate students, helped with MOOSE coding)
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Psyche mission is a NASA-launched space probe destined for asteroid (16) Psyche, an M-type asteroid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Our goal is to design a fusion-based power solution for a hypothesized Psyche II mission, which will aim to land on the asteroid and take samples from the surface. Fusion power, while science fiction at the moment, is a promising technology for space exploration. The team has set out to solve the problems of integrating fusion into a space-based environment. Space is an inherently uninhabitable and unforgiving environment, it represents a great challenge for heat mitigation. The environment prevents all forms of conduction and convection, so radiation is the only method available. To provide cooling for the reactor itself, the mission’s lander will attach directly to asteroid (16) Psyche and transfer the heat via conduction onto its surface. This will be done through a single-loop Brayton cycle that uses helium as a medium for heat transfer; which, unlike water, won’t freeze in the cold environs of space. Additionally, the plasma inside the reactor will need to be purged of excess helium and superheated plasma, which allows the lander to reject heat through the dumped plasma. The reactor will only be running while on the surface of asteroid (16) Psyche due to excessive heat. This project remains an early-stage thought experiment, but the constraints and objectives have been laid out and a design direction has been determined for potential future projects.
