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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 01/22/2003 6:05:03 AM PST by vannrox
O'Keefe's statement emphasised the technology, rather than any specific destinations. "The laws of physics are the only things controlling how fast we go anywhere," he said. "So until we beat the technical limitations ... you basically end up arguing about fantasy missions." NASA's last budget request for its nuclear propulsion and power programme was $800 million over five-years. The value of the new, increased request has not yet been revealed. Continual thrust Possibilities include improved ion drives. These use a nuclear reactor to supply electrically charged particles, which are expelled to drive a craft travelling through space. Such engines have already been used on NASA spacecraft like Deep Space One. Nuclear generators already provide compact and long-lasting power sources for electronics aboard spacecraft too far from the Sun to rely on solar power. These radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) provide power by converting heat, produced through the natural decay of a radioactive isotope, into electricity. RTGs have been used on 25 different NASA spacecraft including Viking, Galileo, Cassini and Voyager.
NASA boosts nuclear propulsion plans
15:08 20 January 03
NewScientist.com news service
NASA has requested a "very significant" increase in funding for the development of nuclear propulsion systems for spacecraft, according to Sean O'Keefe, the administration's chief.
Existing chemical rocket technologies have restricted missions to the same speed for 40 years, he said. "With the new technology, where we go next will only be limited by our imagination."
O'Keefe revealed the significant new emphasis in an interview with Los Angeles Times: "We're talking about doing something on a very aggressive schedule to not only develop the capabilities for nuclear propulsion and power generation, but to have a mission using the new technology within this decade."
The request has been approved by US President George Bush and will now pass to Congress for approval. NASA's Nuclear Systems Initiative will also be renamed Project Prometheus.
Triple speed
Researchers believe new nuclear propulsion systems could triple the current speed limit for space travel of 29,000 kilometres per hour. This would make it possible, for example, get to Mars in two months, rather than six. But NASA has dismissed media speculation that it is planning a nuclear-fuelled mission to take astronauts to Mars.
The power available from chemical propulsion systems is limited by the quantity of fuel that can be lifted out of Earth's gravity and into space. Spacecraft therefore use short bursts of power and coast towards their destination. Nuclear devices would deliver thrust continually, building up to much faster speeds.
The type of nuclear technology NASA plans to develop is not clear. In May 2002, O'Keefe told Senators: "We have got to find a 'leap ahead' technology."
Fission reactor
NASA researchers have also suggested "nuclear-enhanced air-breathing rockets" to launch spacecraft from Earth. In these, a uranium dioxide fission reactor would heat hydrogen from an on-board tank to 2500°C. The hot hydrogen would then be mixed with air from outside the rocket and combusted at almost 4000 °C.
NASA launched one rocket with a nuclear fission unit in 1965. The Soviet Union is believed to have made 33 such launches. Despite billions of dollars of research in the 1950s and 1960s, nuclear propulsion was abandoned due to technical and political difficulties.
Will Knight and Damian Carrington
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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You and I both. Would be nice to see us get to places like ALpha Centauri in my lifetime.
Untrue. Only political difficulties.
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As I have said here before this will not occur in your lifetime or in mine.
Bush Senior announced the "Space Exploration Initiative" and effort began to try to recover the priceless nuclear technology that we threw away in the early 70s. Clinton cancelled it almost immediately upon taking office.
All the people who worked on the program in the 60s-70s are either dead or firmly retired.
Nuclear engines could not be built or tested in America today due to hysteria about the "N" word. In the 70s, they were tested in Jackass Flats, NV, a locale used by God as a prototype for the outer circles of Hell. Today you would have environmentalists chaining themselves to test stands, filing lawsuits, etc.
You would have to 'farm it out' to the Russians to build and test--which would entail (among other outrages) a massive technology transfer from us to them.
It is simply not going to happen.
--Boris
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