NASA eyes nuclear-powered rocket

LA Times ^ | 1/17/03 | PETER PAE

[Brett66]

Hoping to pave the way for the human exploration of Mars within the next decade, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is expected to announce that developing a nuclear-powered rocket is its top research priority.

The space agency is expected to request "significant resources and funding" to design a nuclear-powered propulsion system to triple the speed of current space travel, theoretically making it possible for humans to reach Mars in a two-month voyage.

Excerpt; rest of article here:

Agency expected to seek funding to develop way to travel 3 times

[Brett66]

I guess I should put this on the space list too.

[KevinDavis]

That would be so cool if have nuke propulsion. We could have one now if it wasn't for the envrio weenies. What would be cooler is either hyperspace or warp drive??

[RadioAstronomer]

I'm all for this, but would really like to see them bring Orion back in a big way.

I would like to see NERVA brought back. Not sure how it stacks up against VASIMR though.

[dogbrain]

bookmarking for future deal with Kim Il Jong.....

[Savage Beast]

LOL!

[Brett66]

I believe the numbers I've seen associated with a high-power VASIMR, with a 200 MW reactor as power source, put it's ISP at 30,000 with around 40 NT of thrust.A proposed Mars mission utilizing this system would have a 12MW reactor and an ISP of 3,000 with 430 day round trip. I've done some digging and apparentlty Dr. Diaz is ready to begin construction on a 10 KW proof-of-concept module for testing on the ISS called the VF-10.

Here's a paper written by Dr. Diaz that goes into a Mars mission profile:

The Physics and Engineering of the VASIMR Engine

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[curmudgeonII]

. That just isn't going to happen. Even if it did occur, there isn't enough mass of material to spread much farther than the very immediate area of the launch platform.

Sorry, pal. That dog won't hunt. I've seen too many many fool proof things which were fine until some fool came around and proofed them.

You need look no further than the wonderful engineers at Microsoft and AOL who come out with a new version of their product with some degree of regularity which is billed as the greatet thing since sliced bread. [And the next several months are spent working the bugs out of it.]

[Frank_Discussion]

Sorry, pal. That dog won't hunt. I've seen too many many fool proof...

I never said that it was fool proof. What I am saying is two things: One, there is not that much radioactivity in an RTG device to expect a major disaster. And, two, the mass of material in the device limits how far debris can spread.

Can an RTG casing breach? Sure. Has one ever been breached? I don't think one ever has. Will I admit it is possible to to breach an RTG casing. Absolutely, but I'm not willing to lose sleep over that any more than I am over a meteor strike on my home.

You need look no further than the wonderful engineers at Microsoft and AOL who come out with a new version of their product with some degree of regularity which is billed as the greatet thing since sliced bread...

When your computer dies in a glitch, I think that's just a little bit smaller problem than an RTG breach. And, BTW, the comparison to Microsoft/AOL is a good way to illustrate the high level of integrity of current RTG technology - Nobody has had to change the basic design for 30-40 years.