Russian orbital complex "Zeus" and its further prospects
So at the Army-2021 forum, representatives of the Roscosmos corporation demonstrated a model of a new orbital complex under the sonorous name Zeus with a nuclear power plant. It is about this promising spacecraft that will be discussed in today's material.
What is known about the orbital complex "Zeus"
So the estimated power of "Zeus" should be 470 kW. For clarity, the total power of all solar panels installed on the ISS is 80 kW. The Zeus complex will be equipped with ion engines (presumably it will be ID-500), which will allow crossing the threshold chemical engines (the impulse of chemical propellers is 3-4.5 km / s, and for RED for deep space tasks up to 70 km / s).
As you know, ion thrusters smoothly accelerate the ship and the longer the flight distance, the greater the sense in using ion thrusters.
For example, if there is a transport and energy module on the TEM before the Moon, aka the Nuclon-AP project, the flight will be about 200 days (this period includes both the acceleration time and braking time), then already before Mars the flight time on TEM is reduced to one and a half months, and with rocket engines at the current moment such a flight can be completed in 6-8 months.
Historical reference
In fact, the idea of using nuclear installations in spacecraft is not new. So back in the 1960s, academicians M. Keldyshov, S. Korolev and I. Kurchatovs put forward similar tasks.
So, in the period from 1970 to 1988, the forces of the Soviet Union launched 32 vehicles with TEM into orbit (the principle of these is based on converting the energy of the decay of an atom into electricity). Early installations had a relatively modest power and had a short service life, after which space the installations went out of orbit and created serious problems for ground services, which tracked where the "dirty" wreckage.
In this regard, in the late 1980s, an agreement was reached, according to which satellites with similar engines were no longer launched into space. But as the current realities show, this ban may soon be abandoned.
New developments and agreements
So at the end of last year, representatives of Roscosmos signed agreements with KB Arsenal to create a preliminary project for the development of a space complex by mid-2024. And already in 2030, thanks to the use of TEM, a research mission should take place aimed at studying the satellites of Jupiter.
The main difficulty of the project is the fact that most of the nodes are created from absolute zero, and the created nodes are necessary carefully check and make sure that they will work flawlessly over a long service life in space space.
It is for this reason that at one time the Americans abandoned their Prometheus project, as well as JIMO. But the Americans did not stop work on their nuclear installation, but focused on developing a compact nuclear reactor to serve the lunar / Mars base (the Kilopower reactor is already tested).
Also draws attention to the name of the Russian project "Zeus", America has a project "Artemis" designed to return US astronauts to the moon. But if you remember ancient Greek mythology, then Artemis is the daughter of Zeus.
Well, we will closely observe the development of Zeus and how the domestic and world space industry will develop further.
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