Wilkommen to se Klub. Nice Kerbal take on the Mars Semi Direct Comcept. Mars DIrect has been a favorite for Mars colonization, but in recent times Ive been lookign through Nuclear Power/Propulsion Ideas for shorter mission durations. The next NASA admin. Jared Isaacman is very focused on Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP). I've been working on a 3d Modelling project invisioning the first crewed mars missions and It involves the main ship using NEP.
Came across these Nasa studies yesterday about using NEP+chemical Rockets for crewed Mars Mission.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20205008441/downloads/Mars Opposition Piloted Nuclear Electric Propulsion final_ASCEND.pdf
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210017131/downloads/TM-20210017131_errata.pdf
In my opinion it's one of the best mars mission proposals as it combines the advanages of both cemical rockets and NEP
Once the KSA parts system is more finallized I'm planning to add the Vehicles from my project into the game
Thank you @
Spaceman3d , and very interesting links !
I haven't been involved in space travel simulations for several months, and am slowly getting back into it. As far as nuclear-powered rocket engines are concerned, I remember that they are very heavy compared to conventional engines and generate a lot of waste heat, but perhaps one day the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages.
Then perhaps shorter journeys than the Hohmann transfer, which takes around 9 months, will also become possible.
The slow acceleration makes me think that this is not so easy to calculate for the simulation when working with time warp.
I haven't programmed a solver for this kind of differential equation containing constant thrust myself yet, but to solve Newton's equation of gravity ( F ~ m1 * m2 / r12^2 ), you need a good numerical solver (I don't think a simple Runge-Kutta is enough).
I am very curious to see whether KSA will initially have the same problems as KSP 2 concerning this, but there is now so much empirical knowledge available and such competent developers at work that we will hopefully be able to simulate a trip to Mars with nuclear engines.
In any case, it's an exciting time.
Best regards,
Yours, Tom Forkay
It's great to see the enthusiasm.
