A Nuclear Thermal Rocket (NTR) engine is a type of rocket engine that uses nuclear reactions to heat a propellant, typically hydrogen, which is then expelled through a rocket nozzle to produce thrust.
Nuclear thermal rocket engines operate on a fundamentally different principle compared to chemical rocket engines.
In a nuclear thermal rocket engine, the basic idea is to use a nuclear reactor to heat a propellant (such as hydrogen) to high temperatures. The heated propellant is then expelled through a rocket nozzle to generate thrust. Unlike traditional chemical rockets, which rely on the combustion of propellants, nuclear thermal rockets utilize the energy released from nuclear reactions.
The total energy () at the nozzle Inlet can be expressed as:
where,
- E is the Total Energy, i.e sum of kinetic and potential energy
- Â is the Static Enthalpy at nozzle Inlet,
- Â is the velocity of the incoming air relative to the reference frame of the engine