NASA and the US military have plans to test a nuclear-powered rocket engine in space as early as 2027, which could revolutionize the way people travel in space in the coming decades.
Two Agencies Work on Nuclear Thermal Propulsion(opens in new window) This system is the technology NASA hopes to use to send humans to Mars in the late 2030s. However, the Agile Sisluna Operations demonstration rocket, or test mission known as the DRACO program,(opens in new window) — no astronauts involved.
Proponents of nuclear-powered rockets have long emphasized the advantages that spacecraft can travel faster, carry heavier people and cargo, and use fuel more efficiently than today’s chemical-based rockets. Recently, the idea has taken off, with a $110 million budget for the project this year.
It is not clear how much the public knows about the technology, or whether the project will renew concerns about nuclear hazards. NASA and defense leaders say rockets are safe for people on the ground and will ultimately make space travel safer for astronauts.
But at a meeting of the American Society for Aeronautics and Space Sciences Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where the new collaboration was announced, a moderator spoke to the collective conscience and said, “Obviously the public will say ‘you.’ Are you going to put a nuclear reactor in there?”
“We’re putting radioactive material into space, and we’ve designed the whole process to be safe,” said the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the military research and development arm that leads the entire program. says Stephanie Tompkins. “One of the reasons we do it in space in so many ways is because it’s safer than it is on Earth.”
NASA inflates heat shields on new-age spacecraft for Mars
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How will nuclear rockets change space travel?
Experts describe a nuclear rocket to Mashable as a technology leap, at the level of stagecoaches from steam locomotives and landlines to smartphones.Engineers now rely on swinging planets around to get a gravity boost(opens in new window), the extra power needed to send a space probe deep into the solar system. However, nuclear power is relieved of missions that sometimes have to wait years for precise orbital timing.
“We’re opening up the outer reaches of our solar system to scientific exploration. We don’t have to wait for planets to align. We have launch opportunities every year,” said Dale Thomas, deputy director of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. . Promotion Research Center. “By the way, this is talking about a direct orbit, so you’ll get there in about half the time.”
Using nuclear thermal propulsion, engineers say, it could take two months instead of nine, depending on the route. Reducing travel time also has the advantage of limiting the supplies needed for such travel.
Why did the US stop testing nuclear rockets?
The last US nuclear-thermal rocket engine test took place over 50 years ago. Meanwhile, New He helped Los Alamos National Laboratory in Mexico build a nuclear rocket for NASA’s Project Rover program.Program ended in 1972(opens in new window) President Richard Nixon has made the political decision to cut funding for manned missions to Mars and instead focus spending on space shuttles and research in low Earth orbit.
A nuclear thermal propulsion system pumps liquid hydrogen into a nuclear reactor, where uranium atoms split and release heat.This process known as fission(opens in new window)which converts hydrogen into gas and ejects it from a nozzle to create the thrust that propels the spacecraft.
“We are opening up the outer solar system to scientific exploration. We don’t have to wait for planets to align. We have launch opportunities every year.”
The “game changer” in today’s technological developments is a new form of uranium that is not considered a weapons-grade material. His deputy NASA administrator, Pam Melroy, said this would pave the way for commercial space companies to work on spinoffs after test missions.
However, this low-enriched uranium(opens in new window) One of the biggest challenges for NASA. Materials in direct contact with reactor fuel must withstand temperatures above 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit, about half the surface temperature of the sun.
A technician prepares a kiwi reactor nozzle for testing.
Credit: NASA
Are nuclear rockets safe?
From a safety point of view, engineers say that the nuclear system will not be used on the launch pad at all. In fact, this is one of the most common misconceptions about technology. In some hybrid approaches, chemical rockets take off spacecraft from the ground. Then, when the spacecraft ascends to an altitude of 400 to 1,300 miles (well above the International Space Station),(opens in new window) — nuclear engines will take over. This is important to ensure that the material does not lose its radioactivity by the time it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, Melroy said.
Even if for some reason the chemical rocket exploded and the nuclear engine fell into the sea, the nuclear hardware could never “go critical,” Thomas said. Space rocket systems don’t work until they reach orbit.
Perhaps the greatest safety risk arises during ground testing, a critical step before launch.Engineers will need a gigantic facility that doesn’t exist yet to capture the exhaust, he recommends in a 2021 independent report.(opens in new window) NASA had commissioned the National Academies to study nuclear propulsion. New construction or retrofitting of existing facilities can cost billions of dollars.
A simulator at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, tests prototype nuclear rocket fuel.
Credit: NASA / Mick Speer
A safe test facility is a consideration that was unthinkable decades ago when engineers were working on previous versions of these systems, said Roger, an aerospace consultant who co-chaired the National Academies study. Myers says.
“The U.S. government launched nuclear rocket engines at night in the Nevada desert and launched them in the open in the late 1960s and early ’70s,” Myers said. “I’m more cautious today.”
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Radiation exposure risk for astronauts
Perhaps surprisingly, the engine will no longer expose future astronauts to radiation exposure, experts say.(opens in new window) from the sun. It comes from the ship’s design, Thomas said. NASA has a research grant to model how spacecraft are designed to work with nuclear rocket engines.
The crew is in the front and the engine in the rear, with a large hydrogen tank in between. Hydrogen is an exceptional neutron absorber.原文: “It’s like your fuel is your shield,” Thomas said.
“Your fuel is like your shield.”
Another bonus for astronauts is that nuclear-powered rockets give crews the chance to abort deep space missions. With chemical engines, once a spacecraft heads for Mars, it won’t return until the planets are aligned again.
The DRACO spacecraft tests a nuclear thermal rocket engine.
Credit: DARPA illustration
Nuclear Thermal vs. Nuclear Electric Rocket
Other types of nuclear propulsion(opens in new window) Not developed under the joint DRACO program, such as nuclear power. A nuclear electric rocket uses a nuclear reactor to produce electricity like a small power plant. Myers believes NASA should invest in all of them. But having the Pentagon involved in this nuclear thermal test project was a smart way to combine resources, he said.
There is something to all of this for those who have set foot on Earth as well. If scientists and engineers could develop fuels and reactors that could withstand extremely high temperatures, ground-based nuclear power plants could be made safer.
“If you put the reactor fuel that works there into a reactor on the ground, that reactor becomes bulletproof,” he said.
