Aerojet General SNAP-8 Fission Reactor
Thermal Power: 300 kW(t)
Electrical Power: 30 kW(e)
Mass: 300 lbs (reactor); 1500 lbs (unshielded system)
Useful Life: 12 months.
Reactor Outlet Temperature: 1,300°F
Mercury Boiling Temperature: 1,100°F
Radiator Temperature: 700°F
Notes: Joint NASA/AEC project designed to develop a 30 to 60 KW(e) reactor with a specific weight of 50 lb/kw(e) and a 10,000 hour operational lifetime. Effectively a scale-up of the SNAP-2 system. The official objective was:
<blockquote></blockquote>“The ultimate objective of the SNAP-8 program is to design and develop a 30-kw Electrical Generating System for use in various space missions. The power source for this system will be a nuclear reactor furnished by the AEC. The SNAP-8 system will use a eutectic mixture of sodium and potassium (NaK) as the reactor coolant; the system will operate on a Rankine cycle with mercury as the working fluid for the turbogenerator. The SNAP-8 system will be lightweight and highly reliable. It will be launched from a ground base and will operate unattended at full power for a minimum of 10,000 hours. After the system is placed in orbit, both activation and shutdown may be accomplished by ground command.”
Two complete reactors were built during the SNAP-8 program:
SNAP-8 Experimental Reactor (S8ER), which was ground tested in an inerted containment vessels for 12,000 hours and operated for 1 year at power and temperature. Used non-flight hardware. Was a significant improvement in technology – for the same amount of unshielded reactor mass as a SNAP-10A system, S8ER could deliver over 6 times the energy.
SNAP-8 Developmental Reactor (S8DR), which was ground tested for 7,000 hours at power levels from 600 to 1,000 kW(t) using flight-type reactor components and neutron shielding.
References:
Novel Power Sources for Survival Shelters (Contract OCD-OS-62-243) March 1963 (3.9 MB PDF)
Quarterly Progress Report to the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, April-June 1958. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
AEC Annual Report to Congress, 1961.
Summary of Snap Nuclear Space Power Systems, E.B. BAUMEISTER
Report No. 0390-04-6 Development of SNAP-8 Nuclear Power Conversion System Model AGAN 0010 (7 February 1962)
Technological Implications of SNAP Reactor Power System Development for Future Space Nuclear Power Systems Activities by R.V. Anderson (9.1 MB PDF)
SNAP Overview by Glen Schmidt (7 February 2011) (7.39 MB PDF)
An Appraisal of the Advanced Electric Space Power Systems, May 1962 by Lewis Research Center (NASA)
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Sadly...if I had known that moron Frank Wolf was going to destroy NTRS, I would have made all the references I found mirrored on my website as well.
