Getting enough thrust out of a nuclear rocket used to require weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium. Plus, once at the destination, be it Saturn's moon Titan or Pluto, the nuclear reactor could switch from propulsion system to power source, enabling the craft to send back high-quality data for years. This can produce twice the thrust per mass of propellant as compared to that of chemical rockets, allowing nuclear-powered ships to travel longer and faster. The propellant expands and jets out the nozzles at tremendous speeds. Nuclear thermal propulsion uses energy released from nuclear reactions to heat liquid hydrogen to about 2,430 ☌-some eight times the temperature of nuclear-power-plant cores. In fact, one of these companies has already delivered a detailed conceptual design to NASA. Two companies now say their fuels are sufficiently robust for a safe, compact, high-performance reactor. Specifically, the fuel needs to endure the superhigh temperatures and volatile conditions inside a nuclear thermal engine. To enable that mission capability, he says, “a key technology that needs to be advanced is the fuel." “Nuclear propulsion would be advantageous if you want to go to Mars and back in under two years," says Jeff Sheehy, chief engineer in NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.
New fuels and reactor designs appear up to the task, as NASA is now working with industry partners for possible future nuclear-fueled crewed space missions. The challenge has been making these nuclear engines safe and lightweight. Only then does the nuclear propulsion system kick in. Chemical rockets launch the craft out beyond low Earth orbit. This time around, though, plans for interplanetary missions propelled by nuclear fission and fusion are being backed by new designs that have a much better chance of getting off the ground.Ĭrucially, the nuclear engines are meant for interplanetary travel only, not for use in the Earth's atmosphere. The idea of nuclear rocket engines dates back to the 1940s. For all the controversy they stir up on Earth, nuclear reactors can produce the energy and propulsion needed to rapidly take large spacecraft to Mars and, if desired, beyond.
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