atmospheric mining in the outer solar system (amoss) jpc 2011 (3.0 upload)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar

System: Issues and Challenges

for Mining Vehicle Propulsion

47th AIAA/ ASME/ SAE/ ASEE Joint Propulsion

Conference and Exhibit

San Diego, CA

Bryan Palaszewski

NASA Glenn Research Center

Cleveland OH

July 30 to August 3, 2011


www.nasa.gov

Introduction

• Why atmospheric mining?

• Aerospacecraft cruisers for mining

• Nuclear engine issues

– Gas core engines

• Assembly times

– Flights per day, per month, for ambitious missions.

• Daedalus redux

– Propulsion, propulsion, propulsion

– Operational issues

• Concluding remarks

• Conclusions


www.nasa.gov

In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)

• In Situ Resource Utilization uses the materials

from other places in the solar system to sustain

human exploration

• Using those resources reduces the reliance on

Earth launched mass, and hopefully reduces

mission costs

• There are powerful capabilities to free humans

from Earth


www.nasa.gov

Why Atmospheric Mining?

• Benefits:

– Large amount of matter to mine (hydrogen and

helium 3)

– Potentially easier than mining regolith (dust) and

rock

– Larger reservoir of materials not readily available

in regolith (and in a gaseous state)

• Potential drawbacks

– Dipping deep into the gravity well of planets is

expensive for propulsion systems

– Lifetime of systems

– Repetitive maneuvers

– Cryogenic atmospheric environments

– Long delivery pipelines


www.nasa.gov

Uranus

JPL


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• Uranus’ moon, Miranda

• Moons may be good staging areas for testing and vehicle deployment

• Good ISRU possibilities

JPL


www.nasa.gov

Neptune

JPL


www.nasa.gov

Neptune and Moons


www.nasa.gov

Mining Scenarios and OTVs

• Using cruiser aerospacecraft for mining in the

atmosphere at subsonic speeds.

• Cruiser aerospacecraft then ascends to orbit,

transferring propellant payload to OTV.

• OTV will be the link to interplanetary transfer

vehicle (ITV) for return to Earth.

• Moon bases for a propellant payload storage

option was investigated.


www.nasa.gov

Outer Planet Atmospheres

Tristan Guillot, “Interiors of Giant Planets Inside and

Outside the Solar System.”


www.nasa.gov

Outer Planet

Atmospheres

and

Wind Speeds

JPL, Ingersoll


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Orbital Velocities:

10 km altitude

Planet Delta-V (km/s) Comment

Jupiter 41.897 BIG

Saturn 25.492 BIG

Uranus 15.053 More acceptable

Neptune 16.618 More acceptable


www.nasa.gov

Cruiser Mining (1)

Combined Miner and Aerospacecraft

Earth orbit

Uranus atmospheric interface

Uranus atmospheric mining altitude

Uranus orbit

Cruiser: mining aerospacecraft (a)

Fuel storage facility

OTV

Cruiser: departs

atmosphere (b)


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AMOSS GCR Designs


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AMOSS GCR Designs,

Pressure Vessel


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AMOSS GCR Designs,

Turbopump


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AMOSS GCR Designs


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Gas Core Design and Analysis Overview

• Total aerospacecraft vehicle delta-V is 20 km/s.

• Single stage aerospacecraft.

• Gas core Isp values = 1800 and 2500 seconds

• Vehicles mass estimated over a broad range of

dry masses.

• Dry mass (other than tankage) = 1,000, 10,000,

100,000, and 1,000,000 kg.

– Typical gas core dry mass = 80,000 to 200,000 kg.

• Tankage mass = 2% and 10% of propellant mass.

• Comparative case: solid core NTP Isp = 900

seconds.


www.nasa.gov

Gas core, Isp = 1,800 s, Tankage = 2% Mp

1

10

100

1,000

10,000

100,000

1,000,000

10,000,000

100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Ae

rosp

ace

craf

t m

ass,

init

ial a

nd

fin

al (

kg)

Dry mass, without tankage (kg)

Nuclear Aerospacecraft, OC Gas Core; 1,800-s Isp; 20-km/s delta-V capability;

1,000-kg payload

Initial mass (Mo)

Final mass (Mf)

Tankage mass fraction = 2% Mp, for H2


www.nasa.gov


1

10

100

1,000

10,000

100,000

1,000,000

10,000,000

100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Aer

osp

acec

raft

mas

s, in

itia

l an

d f

inal

(kg

)


Nuclear Aerospacecraft, OC Gas Core, 1,800-s Isp, 20-km/s delta-V capability,

1,000-kg payload

Initial mass (Mo)

Final mass (Mf)



www.nasa.gov


1

10

100

1,000

10,000

100,000

1,000,000

10,000,000

100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Aer

osp

acec

raft

mas

s, in

itia

l an

d f

inal

(kg

)



1,000-kg payload

Initial mass (Mo)

Final mass (Mf)



www.nasa.gov


1

10

100

1,000

10,000

100,000

1,000,000

10,000,000

100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Ae

rosp

acec

raft

mas

s, in

itia

l an

d f

inal

(kg

)

Dry mass, without tankage (kg


1,000-kg payload

Initial mass (Mo)

Final mass (Mf)



www.nasa.gov

NTP Aerospacecraft, Isp = 900 seconds


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AMOSS NTP Designs:

Solid Core and Gas Core


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Firing Times for Ascent to Orbit:

Isp = 900, 1800, and 2500 seconds

(Mdry = 100,000 kg)


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GCR Aerospacecraft, Isp = 2,500

seconds; Mdry = 1,000,000 kg

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

Payload Dry mass Tankage mass Propellant mass

Aer

osp

acec

raft

mas

ses

(kg)

Aerospacecraft elements

GCR Aerospacecraft Mass Summary, Isp = 2500 s, Payload = 1 MT, Tankage = 10% of Propellant mass, Initial mass = 2,651 MT


www.nasa.gov

GCR Aerospacecraft, Isp = 2,500

seconds: Mdry = 10,0000 kg


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AMOSS Flight Rates


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AMOSS Flight Rates

• Flight rates of 20 per day are required to meet the

20 year assembly suggested by BIS Daedalus

study.

• Flight rates of 6 per day are needed if the time is

relaxed to 50 years (and 3 for 100 years).


www.nasa.gov

Atmosphere of Uranus:

K.A. Rages, H.B. Hammel, A.J. Friedson,

Evidence for temporal change at Uranus’ south pole, 2004

• Flight in the outer planet

atmospheres are based

on flight at altitudes

where the atmospheric

pressure is about 1

atmosphere.

• The charts notes that this

altitude implies flying in

the haze layer of Uranus.

• The issue of flight in the

haze layer should be

investigated (effects on

aerospacecraft, mining

efficiency , etc.).


www.nasa.gov

Concluding Remarks

• Atmospheric mining can open new frontiers.

• Gas core engines for mining aerospacecraft

require very high temperatures.

• Gas core engines may reduce vehicle mass, but

increase their complexity.

• Gas core engines can reduce the vehicle initial

mass by 72% to 80% over solid core NTP

powered vehicles.

• Flight rates of 20 per day are required to meet the

20 year assembly suggested by BIS Daedalus

study.

• Flight rates of 6 per day are needed if the time is

relaxed to 50 years (and 3 for 100 years).


www.nasa.gov

Neptune

JPL

atmospheric mining in the outer solar system (amoss) jpc 2011 (3.0 upload)

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