SP-100 Generic Flight System Design and Development Progress

Abstract

General Electric Company, under contract to DOE, is responsible for the development of the SP-100 Space Reactor Power System (SRPS) for the nation's future space power needs in the 10s to 100s kW/sub e/ power range. A 100 kW/sub e/ Generic Flight System (GFS) design was established in response to comprehensive specifications which provided bounding requirements that envelope a range of missions from earth orbiting satellites to planetary probes. The resulting GFS design established the reference for the technology/design validation now being demonstrated as part of the Ground Engineering System (GES) program being performed by General Electric. The System Design Review was completed in May 1988 and major progress has been made since that date to demonstrate the flexibility of the GFS design in meeting the special needs of emerging applications from Air Force missions in the 10 to 40 kW/sub e/ power range to the missions being considered for the Space Exploration Initiative in the multi-hundred kW/sub e/ power range. Significant accomplishments have been in the areas of hardware demonstration of the key technologies, establishment of the fabrication processes and facilities, and design of the full-scale reactor ground test article and test facility. This paper will briefly review the status of the GFS design and then focus on the significant hardware accomplishments during 1989.