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A nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) is a type of thermal rocket where the heat from a nuclear reaction replaces the chemical energy of the propellants in a chemical rocket. In an NTR, a working fluid , usually liquid hydrogen , is heated to a high temperature in a nuclear reactor and then expands through a rocket nozzle to create thrust .
A design for the Orion propulsion module. From 1957 to 1964 this information was used to design a spacecraft propulsion system called Orion, in which nuclear explosives would be thrown behind a pusher-plate mounted on the bottom of a spacecraft and exploded.
Nuclear thermal rockets can provide great performance advantages compared to chemical propulsion systems. Nuclear power sources could also be used to provide the spacecraft with electrical power for operations and scientific instrumentation. [12] Examples: NERVA (Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications), a US nuclear thermal rocket program
The design requires fusion power technology beyond current capabilities, and much larger and more complex rockets. Fusion nuclear pulse propulsion is one approach to using nuclear fusion energy to provide propulsion. Fusion's main advantage is its very high specific impulse, while its main disadvantage is the (likely) large mass of the reactor.
Nuclear pulse propulsion or external pulsed plasma propulsion is a hypothetical method of spacecraft propulsion that uses nuclear explosions for thrust. [1] It originated as Project Orion with support from DARPA , after a suggestion by Stanislaw Ulam in 1947. [ 2 ]
Nuclear systems powered by 242m Am require less fuel by a factor of 2 to 100 compared to conventional nuclear fuels. Fission-fragment rocket using 242m Am was proposed by George Chapline [ 7 ] at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1988, who suggested propulsion based on the direct heating of a propellant gas by fission fragments ...
In May 1946, the U.S. Air Force launched the Nuclear Energy for Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) project to explore the potential of nuclear energy for powering aircraft. [13] [14] This initiative led to a collaborative effort of the Air Force and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) known as the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program, aimed at developing nuclear propulsion systems for ...
The nuclear salt-water rocket (NSWR) is a theoretical type of nuclear thermal rocket designed by Robert Zubrin. [1] In place of traditional chemical propellant , such as that in a chemical rocket , the rocket would be fueled by salts of plutonium or 20-percent- enriched uranium .