Russia says it's going to beat Elon Musk and SpaceX's 'old tech' with a nuclear rocket
Elon Musk and SpaceX won't be leading the reusable rocket space race long, at least not if Russia has anything to say about it. Russia's Keldysh Research Center has been working on a reusable rocket solution for nearly a decade now, and now it's ramping up the hype with a new concept video showing how its spacecraft works.
Speaking with reporters, Vladimir Koshlakov explained that Elon Musk and SpaceX pose no real threat to the group's plans. Musk, Koshlakov says, is relying on technology that will soon be antiquated, while Russia is looking towards shaping the future of spaceflight.
The Russian researchers say that their nuclear-powered rocket platform will be able to make it to Mars seven months after launch, and that its reusable rocket stages can be put back into service after just 48 hours.
"Reusability is the priority," Koshlakov reportedly said. "We must develop engines that do not need to be fine-tuned or repaired more than once every ten flights. Also, 48 hours after the rocket returns from space, it must be ready to go again. This is what the market demands."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 15 2018, @11:25PM (4 children)
What could possibly go wrong?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday November 15 2018, @11:54PM (2 children)
Can you say nuclear air burst explosion?
That said it's not a new idea to nuke up your space rockets, NASA (and probably others) looked at it during the 70's and built quite a few prototypes and there was nuclear batteries in many of the probes and satellites sent away into space or onto other planets. So I guess they found it worth the risk, just didn't care enough or perhaps there was no other options.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @12:15AM (1 child)
Project Orion at General Atomics. Tree-huggers probably wouldn't approve of this technology today.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday November 16 2018, @11:48AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @01:31AM
Since the US is pulling out of the INF treaty, you'll need to define "wrong".
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 15 2018, @11:28PM (6 children)
You know, there's just something amusing about Russia smack talking a US guy about how to capitalism. Even more so if they turn out to be right.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Informative) by legont on Friday November 16 2018, @12:19AM (1 child)
Here is the web site of the company in question. It's called S7 http://s7space.ru/en/ [s7space.ru]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Funny) by legont on Friday November 16 2018, @12:27AM
It appears that the company is a subsidiary of the biggest Russian airline S7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S7_Airlines [wikipedia.org]
It started as a Siberian charter service and had a difficult history after Ukrainians shot down it's flight from Israel over Crimea back in 2001. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia_Airlines_Flight_1812 [wikipedia.org]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday November 16 2018, @01:06AM (2 children)
I think it will be even funnier if they turn out to be wrong. I just don't want to be in the fallout zone.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @01:33AM (1 child)
It won't be called "the fallout zone". It will be rebranded as "the Chernobyl Experience".
(Score: 3, Touché) by melikamp on Friday November 16 2018, @02:09AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @02:01AM
They are even aping our patented vaporware marketing.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @01:03AM (7 children)
All I could find so far was this snippet from the rt article:
So definitely not for transiting from the surface to orbit which is where spaceX makes its cash anyway. Probably more viable for long term flights than conventional rockets Id imagine. I was hoping for something far more exotic (and dangerous) like a modern retake on Project Pluto.
Incidentally, does anyone know if the US operates/ed any space-borne fission reactors? I know we have a ton of RTG's up there but those are relatively low power/weight and my google-fu isn't telling me much.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday November 16 2018, @01:09AM (2 children)
"...my google-fu isn't telling me much."
Of course not that's classified info and way above your pay grade.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @10:24AM (1 child)
Dammit, I hate having to use bing.
(Score: 1) by Username on Friday November 16 2018, @11:30PM
Yeah, I used to be able to find shit so easy on google. Now it ignores stuff in quotes and wont search for certain terms like index of in title. Were in the age of, "you'll search for what we want you to search for."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @05:38AM (2 children)
Only thing I could find:
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/kilopower [nasa.gov]
If NASA's and RT's summaries are correct the primary difference that I can see would be the different cooling system with NASA opting for liquid-based cooling while the Russian reactor uses gas. It also sounds like the NASA reactor is more designed for terrestrial end-use (Like for colonies on Luna or Mars) although from the description of their testing low-gravity/zero gravity seems to also be a design consideration (unless that's just survival and not operational testing).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @05:42AM
A much more descriptive page about the Kilopower project:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/demonstration-proves-nuclear-fission-system-can-provide-space-exploration-power [nasa.gov]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @05:47AM
It looks like the US Military is working on fielding portable fission reactors based on the same Kilopower technology:
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2018/09/build-small-nuclear-reactors-battlefield-power/151434/ [defenseone.com]
That article contains a lot of extra information the NASA press releases don't have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @05:50AM
You need to improve your google'fu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNAP-10A [wikipedia.org]