Russian President Dmitry Medvedev inspects a piece of equipment at a facility...Posted on 10/29/2009 7:07:52 AM PDT by tricky_k_1972
MOSCOW -- Russia should build a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective manned missions to Mars and other planets, the nation's space chief said in remarks released Thursday.
Anatoly Perminov first proposed building the ship at a government meeting Wednesday but initially didn't explain its purpose.
He said in remarks posted Thursday on his agency's Web site that the nuclear spaceship should be used for human flights to Mars and other planets. He said the project is challenging technologically, but could capitalize on the Soviet and Russian experience in the field.
Perminov said the preliminary design could be ready by 2012. He said it would then take nine more years and 17 billion rubles (about $600 million, or euro400 million) to build the ship.
President Dmitry Medvedev backed the project Wednesday and urged the government to find the money.
"The project is aimed at implementing large-scale space exploration programs, including a manned mission to Mars, interplanetary travel, the creation and operation of planetary outposts," Perminov's Web statement said.
The ambitious plans contrast with slow progress on building a replacement to the mainstay Russian spacecraft, sounding more like a plea for extra government cash than a detailed proposal.
Russia is using Soyuz booster rockets and capsules, developed 40 years ago, to send crews to the International Space Station. The development of a replacement rocket and a prospective spaceship with a conventional propellant has dragged on with no end in sight.
Despite its continuing reliance on the old technology, Russia stands to take a greater role in space exploration in the coming years. NASA's plan to retire its shuttle fleet next year will force the United States and other nations to rely on the Russian spacecraft to ferry their astronauts to and from the International Space Station until NASA's new manned ship becomes available.
Perminov said the new nuclear-powered ship should have a megawatt-class nuclear reactor, as opposed to small nuclear reactors that powered some Soviet military satellites. The Cold War-era Soviet spy satellites had reactors that produced just a few kilowatts of power and had a life span of about a year.
Stanley Borowski, a senior engineer at NASA specializing in nuclear rocket engines, said they have many advantages for deep space missions, such as to take astronauts and gear to Mars. In deep space, nuclear rockets are twice as fuel-efficient as conventional rockets, he said.
NASA has used small amounts of plutonium in deep space probes, including those to Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto and heading out of the solar system.
The only planetary mission currently considered by Russia is a plan to send a probe to one of Mars' twin moons, Phobos. It was set to launch this year, but was delayed.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev inspects a piece of equipment at a facility...
I’m all for this, as long as Putin is on the first flight OUT. ;)
Well, there won’t be any US spacecraft in the way...thanks to the bumbling bureaucrats at NASA.
bump
Our nation used to attempt great things like this.
If you want to go to Mars (and return safely to the Earth) you need to get there and back a whole lot faster than the 900 day round trip needed for chemical rockets.
I tend to agree. let them do the early work and testing, then we can use the technology and make it better.
However, any accident that spreads radiation will pretty much kill any further nuke ships for a very long time.
I thought the real problem always in the past was the actual weight of a small nuke engine...
Once again, the left proves that the real reason for opposing nuclear power in America is to collapse our economy. It is OK with them if every country on the planet has nuclear power, except America.
CRICKETS!
This could also be a front for more disturbing Russian plans, but don’t expect the Boy King to do a thing to hamper them in any way(other than give away our missile shield program). Russia is spitting in Obama’s face and he doesn’t seem to care.
In this months Popular Mechanics they have a prototype of an ION engine they say can travel to Mars in 39 days.
Agreed. Time in space is a major issue. Personally I’ve turned toward the feeling that propulsion research should be our focus for now.
The problem with nuclear reactors in space has been, at least with the Russians, design and reliability.
Though the Russians have the most experience with the technology of actual space reactors, we in the US, and to some extent the Japanese and South Africans, have more reliable small reactors.
Bkmk
I like the Ion engine for unmanned probes or unmanned supply vehicles, but for human flight I would prefer a design that utilizes straight nuclear propulsion or nuclear thermal, with it, unlike Ion propulsion you can boost at 1 gravity for the entire flight except at turn around, this eliminates the hazards associated with weightlessness in space and shortens travel time.
The US already has the technology sitting on the shelf. It's called NERVA, and was developed in the late 1960-70 time frame before the antinuke greens contaminated politics.
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