Chapter 3 - Radiation Protection

Chapter three was initially intended to be a review spacecraft structural analysis.  However the issue of payload radiation protection ended up going from a relatively short section to most of the chapter.  Instead of one long chapter with two fairly disconnected topics I've decided to split it into two shorter chapters.  That might change after I start adding figures and diagrams, if it appears that the two chapters are unusually short.

Chapter 3 - Radiation Protection

Chapter 3 Outline

Chapter three of the nuclear spacecraft textbook will focus on structural issues.  Unlike chapters one and two, which provided basic principles in a fairly general fashion, chapter three will build towards a final goal.  Relevant structural concepts will be addressed within the context of a nuclear space vehicle.  The focus will be in explaining how an optimal configuration can be arrived at and developing a general solution for that design.  Physical principles will be explained towards that end.

Chapter Two: Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics

 I've finished the first draft of chapter two of the nuclear spacecraft textbook.  The chapter summarizes thermodynamics and fluid mechanics background necessary for the rest of the chapters that follow.  At a future date this will be further expanded with additional concerns relating to plasma flow, and figures and images will be added.

Chapter Two: Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics

Chapter Two Outline

Chapter Two of the textbook will focus on thermodynamics, heat transfer, and cycle analysis.  Like chapter one this will focus on relatively simple formula and avoid detailed derivations except where such will aid in understanding more than a qualitative discussion.  The first draft of the text will be posted here when it is completed.  Naturally illustrations and figures will not be included in this draft.

Chapter One: Nuclear Reactor Physics

Since my last post I have been working, in addition to my new position teaching systems engineering at a community college and moving into a new apartment, on writing the first chapter of the nuclear spacecraft textbook.  Due to an accident that caused me to lose everything on my laptop hardrive and a substantial portion of my backups I've lost all copies of my thesis except the hard copies, my original notes, and the PDF I uploaded here.  This, it turns out, was something of a blessing in disguise as it has forced me to write the new chapter completely from the beginning rather than copying what I had before.  What resulted was more complete and better written than what preceded it.  This post includes the first draft, without any illustrations, tables, charts, or figures that will need to accompany the final version. At this point the bibliography and final notes about fusion research have not been added.
Chapter One: Nuclear Reactor Physics

Chapter 1 Outline

Chapter One of the textbook will focus on a brief summary of nuclear reactor physics.  Detailed calculations and derivations will be spared in favor of qualitative description and comparatively simple approximate formulae.  More accurate methods of analysis will be described but not presented.

Original Thesis and Textbook Outline

Substantial rewrites are needed before my original thesis is ready to be published as a nuclear spacecraft textbook.  However it will still be of value to those considering nuclear space vehicle missions.  I present the full thesis for any who are interested.
A preliminary chapter outline for the rewrite follows, along with the thesis chapter to be revised or rewritten:

Nuclear Spacecraft Textbook

My master's thesis dealt with mission analysis for nuclear rocket propulsion systems.  It was intended as an introduction the principles and physics involved, both for mission planners and for students.  Now my goal is to finish the necessary modifications and rewrites to create an introductory textbook on the subject of nuclear spacecraft propulsion. 
 This book will explain, as simply yet completely as possible, the physics of nuclear propulsion systems.  It will allow those with a background in rocket propulsion to understand the nuclear mechanics issues as easily as it allows those with a background in nuclear reactors to understand the propulsion issues.