Design, Analysis, and Optimization of RTG for Solar Polar Mission

The paper presents the conceptual design of an RTG, employing stacked radioisotope heat source modules and silicon-germanium thermoelectric couples, for use on the joint NASA/ESA International Solar-Polar Mission, to be launched in early 1983. The use of stacked heat source modules in RTGs requires a structural support system which holds the stack together during launch, but allows it to disassemble when the generator housing melts during reentry. This is a much more difficult support problem than in the case of a monolithic heat source. A proposed, light-weight scheme for solving this problem is described and analyzed. A detailed analytical model of the RTG and the spacecraft to which it is attached was constructed, and a NASTRAN analysis was carried out to assess the structural performance of the heat source support scheme under differential thermal expansion and dynamic launch loads, to determine the system's characteristic frequencies, the loads transmitted to the RTG, and the resultant stresses and displacements. There are two versions in the file, a draft copy and a final copy. There are 4 copies of the final copy in the file and also a duplicate copy elsewhere