Post by nerd1000 on May 24, 2017 2:52:45 GMT
Republic of the Free Peoples Orbital Commerce Authority (RFPOCA) Design Memo N-00K-M3:
While many of our colonies have easy access to natural uranium ores, the RFP Navy is using up all our fissiles enrichment capability making weapons-grade uranium, presumably so that they can nuke the USTA's ashes a few more times just to be sure. This is a big problem for our normal interplanetary shipping concerns, and if something doesn't change soon we'll have a major supply crisis across the entire system. That's where you come in: We want you to investigate the possibility of re-equipping our ships with reactors and NTRs that can run on unenriched fuel. We require a power reactor of at least 1 MW capacity and a methane NTR of at least 500 kN thrust, gimbal range at least 8 degrees and a nozzle expansion ratio of at least 100. Tenders must include an example ship configuration, either tanker, freighter or cargo liner (combined freight and passenger) capable of finishing the standard 'Homecoming' orbital transport scenario.
Addendum: Notice from RFPOCA orbital command.
I'll keep this brief. As I understand it, some of you eggheads have spent the last few months working for those nutjobs in the Navy. Things work a little differently around here: Maybe in the Navy you could get away with running a reactor 1K below meltdown or using a lithium pump coated in a thin layer of PTFE to move water, but unlike those Naval maddogs my crews have a sense of self-preservation, and unlike the Navy we don't execute them for refusing to fly a ship that's best described as suicidal. So when you're working on your tender, keep those facts in mind. We want our components made from well understood materials, operated within nice big safety margins, and we want to be able to fix them if they go wrong. Good luck.
Challenge rules:
Design the specified reactor and NTR, then complete Homecoming using a ship built around them.
Reactor and NTR fuel must be U-235 Dioxide with minimum enrichment level (0.720%).
Components other than the NTR core must have a 10% margin of safety on melting point.
Your reactor and NTR must have low enough radiation levels for manual servicing (they must not exceed radiation limits on a 1 man aluminium crew capsule placed directly above them without any radiation shield).
No highly reactive material combinations (Fluorine reactor coolant is right out).
Scoring.
Modules: Mass per Watt and cost per Watt for reactor, TWR, cost per Newton of thrust and exhaust velocity for the NTR.
Ship: Cost per payload mass delivered to the station at the end of Homecoming. Payload may be a cargo bay, fuel, a passenger module (To avoid penalizing passenger ships I'll count the mass of the whole module, not just the passengers in it) or some combination thereof.
While many of our colonies have easy access to natural uranium ores, the RFP Navy is using up all our fissiles enrichment capability making weapons-grade uranium, presumably so that they can nuke the USTA's ashes a few more times just to be sure. This is a big problem for our normal interplanetary shipping concerns, and if something doesn't change soon we'll have a major supply crisis across the entire system. That's where you come in: We want you to investigate the possibility of re-equipping our ships with reactors and NTRs that can run on unenriched fuel. We require a power reactor of at least 1 MW capacity and a methane NTR of at least 500 kN thrust, gimbal range at least 8 degrees and a nozzle expansion ratio of at least 100. Tenders must include an example ship configuration, either tanker, freighter or cargo liner (combined freight and passenger) capable of finishing the standard 'Homecoming' orbital transport scenario.
Addendum: Notice from RFPOCA orbital command.
I'll keep this brief. As I understand it, some of you eggheads have spent the last few months working for those nutjobs in the Navy. Things work a little differently around here: Maybe in the Navy you could get away with running a reactor 1K below meltdown or using a lithium pump coated in a thin layer of PTFE to move water, but unlike those Naval maddogs my crews have a sense of self-preservation, and unlike the Navy we don't execute them for refusing to fly a ship that's best described as suicidal. So when you're working on your tender, keep those facts in mind. We want our components made from well understood materials, operated within nice big safety margins, and we want to be able to fix them if they go wrong. Good luck.
Challenge rules:
Design the specified reactor and NTR, then complete Homecoming using a ship built around them.
Reactor and NTR fuel must be U-235 Dioxide with minimum enrichment level (0.720%).
Components other than the NTR core must have a 10% margin of safety on melting point.
Your reactor and NTR must have low enough radiation levels for manual servicing (they must not exceed radiation limits on a 1 man aluminium crew capsule placed directly above them without any radiation shield).
No highly reactive material combinations (Fluorine reactor coolant is right out).
Scoring.
Modules: Mass per Watt and cost per Watt for reactor, TWR, cost per Newton of thrust and exhaust velocity for the NTR.
Ship: Cost per payload mass delivered to the station at the end of Homecoming. Payload may be a cargo bay, fuel, a passenger module (To avoid penalizing passenger ships I'll count the mass of the whole module, not just the passengers in it) or some combination thereof.
