NASA team pushing towards thermal nuclear propulsion systems

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NTREES (Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator) in operation (Photo: NASA)

Cross-section of a 1960s NERVA-type thermal nuclear rocket engine (Image: NASA)

In the Kiwi-TNT test, a nuclear rocket engine was deliberately overloaded to the point of explosion – the yield was equal to about 50 kg of TNT (Photo: NASA)

Mike Houts, left, project manager for nuclear systems at the Marshall Center, discusses upcoming testing with Bill Emrich, who manages Marshall's Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator, or NTREES (Photo: NASA)

Amy Sivak, an engineer in the Propulsion Research & Technology Branch of the Marshall Center's Engineering Directorate, keeps an eye on NTREES testing in progress (Photo: NASA)

On the left, the Kiwi-A nuclear rocket engine, on the right the Phoebus 1 (Photo: Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Cutaway model of a NERVA-class thermal nuclear rocket engine (Photo: NASA)

The Phoebus-2A nuclear rocket engine (Photo: Los Alamos National Laboratory)

The NTREES primary chamber and diagnostic equipment (Photo: NASA)

Cross-section of an experimental fuel rod design for the Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (NCPS) (Photo: NASA)

The Phoebus 1A was a nuclear thermal rocket engine with a peak power of about 1.1 GW and a thrust of some 220 kN (50,000 pounds) (Photo: NASA)

Comparative sizes of various 1960s US nuclear rocket engines (Photo: NASA)

Artist's rendition of the Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (NCPS), a nuclear engine intended primarily for the upper stages of launch vehicles and as primary propulsion for deep space missions (Photo: NASA)

Article Summary

Nuclear-powered rocket engines are not new. In the 1960s, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union developed and tested thermal nuclear rockets fitted with flight-worthy components. However, Project Rover and NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Nuclear Rocket Application) programs were defunded in the early 1970s just before test flights were to start. Now, as part of the Advanced Exploration Systems program at NASA, the Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage team is tackling a three-year project to demonstrate the viability of and to evaluate materials for thermal nuclear propulsion systems for use in future deep space missions.

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