Nuclear-Thermal-Rocket Propulsion Systems

Abstract : Ideas for using nuclear energy for space propulsion began shortly after the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in 1942. Starting in the late 1940s, several development programs were pursued by the United States Air Force, the Atomic Energy Commission (now the US Department of Energy), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Some of the systems developed from these programs are still in use today. To use nuclear power for space propulsion, a propellant is heated in a suitable nuclear reactor to create hot, high-pressure gas which is expanded through a nozzle. The resultant high thrust and high specific impulse enhance or enable missions which may not be feasible using conventional chemical rocket engines. Nuclear reactors, at the simplest level, are heat sources; they can heat a propellant directly (nuclear thermal) or create electricity (nuclear electric).

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