Tylos Nuclear Thermal Engine

Overview

Tylos is a conceptual design for a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engine. The design is inspired by NASA’s NERVA project from the 1960s as well as more modern NERVA-based engine concepts. The Reactor Design subteam is using mathematical modeling to design and size the reactor core. The Experimental subteam is designing a test to externally heat a dummy fuel element, which will provide validation of the Reactor Design subteam’s work. This project is a uniquely joint effort between undergraduate Nuclear and Aerospace Engineering students. When we are successful, we will be the first ever undergraduate student group to experimentally validate a nuclear engine design, and the first extracurricular reactor design project at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.