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Hyperion Campaign 

Hyperion-I is ASPEN’s first engine modeling a solid-core nuclear thermal rocket engine using an inductively heated, additively manufactured metallic core. An overarching view of the development campaign for Hyperion-1 includes three Phases of modeling and hardware testing. Experimental data from each phase will be compared to corresponding linked multiphysics models in ANSYS. Three test articles, starting with a single tube and ending with a full printed core, will be tested with gaseous nitrogen while in an inductive heating environment used to model the nuclear fission that occurs in true solid-core nuclear thermal engines.

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PHASE I

Fall 2019

PHASE II

Spring 2021 -Spring 2024

PHASE III

Fall 2024

Current Updates 

Recently we have installed a new mass flow meter into our test stand to verify the flow values in our Phase 2 simulations. We have also moved from combusion heating to tape heating to increase the temperature of the test article in hopes of yeilding more accuate results. We hope to complete a new round of testing on our phase 2 article this spring.

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