Rolls-Royce Nuclear Engine Could Power Quick Trips to the Moon and Mars

gizmodo ^ | Kevin Hurler

[DannyTN]

If you got to go to the moon or mars, you might as well go in style.

[BenLurkin]

Nice.

ZZ Top is jealous.

[dfwgator]

[Red Badger]

How quick is ‘quick’?.................................

[Magnum44]

If you got to go to the moon or mars,

don’t forget your Grey Poupon

[dfwgator]

Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.

[telescope115]

I know how nuclear propulsion is used on board ships and subs, but I’m wondering how it would be used in spacecraft.

[Samurai_Jack]

the anti-nuke cult will object because they dont want nuclear waste raining down on the planet in the case of a contingency.

[MachIV]

The Jupiter 2 had a nuclear powered engine 😊

[Yo-Yo]

I assume Rolls-Royce is using the nuclear reactor to generate electricity for an Ion Drive engine.

The hardest part about using a nuclear reactor for space travel is making it light enough to launch, yet robust enough to survive an unplanned 'launch event.'

[Mr. K]

In fact, it’s cold as hell

[Mr. K]

or was it ‘ice’

[dfwgator]

That was Foreigner

[Golden Eagle]

Right on cue!

[wildcard_redneck]

I love reading about technology that small minds shut down 60 years ago.

[dfwgator]

What about 90 minutes from New York to Paris. I was told that by ‘76 we’d by A-OK.

[alloysteel]

In order to make the “nuclear rocket” concept work, the primary function of the small atomic reactor is to supply sufficient heat so whatever the propellant may be, it is expelled as a hot stream of gas, giving the thrust comparable to the burn of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen (or other rocket fuel), to lift heavy payloads from the ground and through space. As the atomic reactor heat unit is MUCH smaller than the size of the tanks that hold the liquid oxygen and liquid rocket fuel, and the propellant to be heated may something like simple water, the weight requirements are much lower, and an even greater payload is possible.

People are so accustomed to the idea of chemical rockets, the idea of using heat generated from a small nuclear reactor seems really novel.

But highly practical.

[sonova]

I know how nuclear propulsion is used on board ships and subs, but I’m wondering how it would be used in spacecraft.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Seems it’s got to eject mass in order to make thrust.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

If only some brilliant British engineer could just figure out a way to harness nuclear power to power the electrical grid!