For an auto engine it is beyond hopeless (economics, safety). This particular case is a crackpot/scammer with no substance at all. Very small nuclear-powered e

For an auto engine it is beyond hopeless (economics, safety). This particular case is a crackpot/scammer with no substance at all. Very small nuclear-powered engines are possible. There were several launched on space satellites by the US and USSR, i.e. http://www.etec.energy.gov/history/Major-Operations/SNAP-Overview.html http://www.etec.energy.gov/history/Major-Operations/SNAP-Ove... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954 SNAP weighed under 430 kg for the entire power system (note this is a real fission reactor, not a radioisotope heat source like many space probes). These use highly-enriched uranium (weapons grade) to get very small cores. Nuclear reactors have been proposed for interplanetary probes, such as the (recently cancelled) Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, which would have used a nuclear reactor powering an ion thruster. It's completely viable. http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/jupiter/JIMO_Background/JIMO.pdf http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/jupiter/JIMO_Bac...