UNLIMITED POWER (Reactor Thread (also radiators))

I have a 150 MW design that might be able to be scaled down. I can post it tonight.

Check the 'UNLIMITED POWER' thread.

A bit of quick research on the topic of space radiation shielding...

Apparently, it's not an issue for the timescales that our missions are dealing with, and most of the problem is eliminated anyway if we successfully shield against protons and alpha particles, both of which are lightweight and positively charged. There's work being done on magnetic shielding to deflect incoming particles, and that seems like the best long-term solution (only ~10kW power draw), but it isn't currently accepted tech yet. It's a bit heavy, though.

Proton radiation increases greatly during coronal mass ejections from the sun, so they definitely should be blocked. High-Z (HZE) ions come from outside the solar system and are a pain in the ass no matter what you do, since you would really need to block them with heavy nuclei, but that results in secondary radiation guaranteed, and heavy nuclei add enormous mass. The best current-tech solution appears to be to more or less ignore HZE ions and block everything else to compensate.

So, what is desired in shielding is lots of atoms in a small space, to block/bounce particles with a wall of nuclei. Light nuclei are preferred, to reduce secondary radiation and induced radioactivity. That basically means the current in-game paradigm for neutrons (lithium-6 + boron) should do wonderfully. Hydrogen-rich stuff (plastic, water, LH2, bags of human waste) is mentioned a lot as shielding, so embedding the crew in propellant like decane would be excellent for cutting cost. As time passes and propellant is used, human waste is created, so late-mission shielding is not compromised horribly.


TL;DR: With smart engineering, space radiation isn't a big problem.

Nice, thanks man. I'm actually pretty surprised that I didn't find anything else in this power range, but I suppose everyone was focusing on optimizing either the biggest or smallest reactors available, and nothing in the middle.

The optimal RPM differs a bit depending on the amount of heat that needs to be shifted and the density & yield strength of the turbo, probably also fluid viscosity, but 450-600 is generally the right ballpark.

This applies to all turbos anywhere in the game.

As a comparison, my single 1GW reactor (at 2500K) masses 15.6t alone, or 23.25t if you include minimal radiators.
(If you use armored or redundant radiators, higher temperatures come out ahead. Small radiator area has its own value as well.)

That's a nice reactor you have there. A bit expensive, though - you can cut a lot of cost by switching fuel to U-233 dioxide, and you should be able to save more cost by buffing neutron flux, reducing fuel, and adding a little diamond moderator when the reactor lifetime starts to be an issue.


Also, welcome to the forum!