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The project, in concert with US government agency DARPA, aims to develop pioneering propulsion system for space travel as soon as 2027:
The project is intended to develop a pioneering propulsion system for space travel far different from the chemical systems prevalent since the modern era of rocketry dawned almost a century ago.
"Using a nuclear thermal rocket allows for faster transit time, reducing risk for astronauts," Nasa said in a press release.
[...] Using current technology, Nasa says, the 300m-mile journey to Mars would take about seven months. Engineers do not yet know how much time could be shaved off using nuclear technology, but Bill Nelson, the Nasa administrator, said it would allow spacecraft, and humans, to travel in deep space at record speed.
[...] Using low thrust efficiently, nuclear electric propulsion systems accelerate spacecraft for extended periods and can propel a Mars mission for a fraction of the propellant of high-thrust systems.
Also at CNN and Engadget. Link to Nasa press release.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Rich on Friday January 27, @09:55AM (6 children)
I discovered a new abbreviation by following through: "HALEU", which stands for "High-Assay Low Enriched Uranium", which is a weird way to say "5-20% enrichment". The Mars story is bullshit, Musk would be Emperor of Mars before they even have spaceship for their engine, and I suspect this is a means to funnel money into establishing a supply for that, because the "20 exciting startups developing small reactors" figured out they'd need more power per mass and less refueling cycles to even have a chance to be competitive.
But while this "HALEU" stuff might be a win-win for the startups and the military with their HEU reprocessing, and might be useful in space, it's not sustainable for the "20 startups". U-235 is a rather limited natural resource and they should be looking at plutonium fuel if they really mean to provide a somewhat sustainable concept. (Not that I personally think they could ever come close to renewables if they factor in long term safe waste storage, with an emphasis on safe).
(Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Friday January 27, @10:07AM (5 children)
There's another new abbreviation: the m-mile.
With Mars being just 300 of them, should not take long to get there :)
(Score: 1) by BlueCoffee on Friday January 27, @01:35PM (3 children)
The meter-mile? Is that metric or Imperial? :)
At least they stopped using the silly "a thousand-million" for billion, and "a thousand-thousand" for a million. Those were annoying popular AFYA.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday January 27, @03:05PM (2 children)
Is that a short-scale billion (10^9) or a long-scale billion (10^12)? Yeah, we've (mostly) laid the long scale to rest, thankfully.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday January 28, @08:06AM (1 child)
Thankfully? Most of the world uses the long scale. You are the odd one out.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday January 28, @06:00PM
Have I been misinformed?
In that case I'm 100% in favor of thousand million and million million.
(Score: 2) by Rich on Friday January 27, @05:56PM
Wouldn't a (small) m-mile be more like roughly 5 ft 3 23/64 in?