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 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.