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Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (Nerva)

28 points by isomorph 3y ago

zactato 3y ago
I guess I'm not the only one watching For All Mankind this week. This kind of nuclear research is obviously way less popular these days, but I do wonder if these engines could be made more practically with today's technology. Surely a lot of the dangerous testing could be replaced with simulation. edit: Looks like there is some research being done, https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-07-26 https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-07-26
- ElectronCharge 3y ago
  Fission is a hot topic, actually! (sorry, not sorry) Both the US and China have committed to fission-powered spacecraft in the near term. It’s probably the most important area of superpower space competition in the sense that it’ll enable space resource exploitation far beyond what’s possible with chemical energy alone. There’s plenty of activity here on Earth as well, with many modern modular reactor designs being evaluated and produced. Reliable power is needed alongside intermittent renewables, even with storage.
  - vba616 3y ago
    >Both the US and China have committed to fission-powered spacecraft in the near term. It’s probably the most important area of superpower space competition in the sense that it’ll enable space resource exploitation far beyond what’s possible with chemical energy alone. https://www.etec.energy.gov/Operations/Major_Operations/SNAP_Overview.php https://www.etec.energy.gov/Operations/Major_Operations/SNAP... (This was not the RTG of Voyager and other well-known spacecraft)
- DylanSp 3y ago
  It probably got posted because it's today's featured article on Wikipedia.
- vba616 3y ago
  >Surely a lot of the dangerous testing could be replaced with simulation During the cold war, starting in the 1960s, weren't there dozens of fission reactor satellites launched into orbit? I don't mean spontaneous decay devices like RTGs, I mean fission reactors. Primarily, but not exclusively Soviet. I bring this up because every discussion I see of the risks of nuclear power in space seems to presume an alternate historical record where political opposition prevented it from becoming a reality. Where uncontrolled deorbiting of reactors or disintegration in orbit were hypothetical and unacceptable failures. I don't know, were we always at war with Eurasia or was it Eastasia? Which history is the disinformation?
- preisschild 3y ago
  > edit: Looks like there is some research being done, https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-07-26 https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-07-26 Lockheed Martin and BWXT will build a demonstrator vehicle that will power up a reactor in space by 2027. If that timeline holds, then actually seeing a nuclear-powered rocket in space is very near.
scarier 3y ago
Tangentially related: https://www.tor.com/2012/07/20/a-tall-tail/ https://www.tor.com/2012/07/20/a-tall-tail/
mcpackieh 3y ago
> SNPO envisaged the construction of a 20,000 MW nuclear rocket engine Spicy.
pauldenton 3y ago
I always wondered how long until we had nuclear powered helicopters

28 points by isomorph 3y ago

I guess I'm not the only one watching For All Mankind this week. This kind of nuclear research is obviously way less popular these days, but I do wonder if these engines could be made more practically with today's technology. Surely a lot of the dangerous testing could be replaced with simulation. edit: Looks like there is some research being done, https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-07-26 https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-07-26

ElectronCharge 3y ago
Fission is a hot topic, actually! (sorry, not sorry) Both the US and China have committed to fission-powered spacecraft in the near term. It’s probably the most important area of superpower space competition in the sense that it’ll enable space resource exploitation far beyond what’s possible with chemical energy alone. There’s plenty of activity here on Earth as well, with many modern modular reactor designs being evaluated and produced. Reliable power is needed alongside intermittent renewables, even with storage.
- vba616 3y ago
  >Both the US and China have committed to fission-powered spacecraft in the near term. It’s probably the most important area of superpower space competition in the sense that it’ll enable space resource exploitation far beyond what’s possible with chemical energy alone. https://www.etec.energy.gov/Operations/Major_Operations/SNAP_Overview.php https://www.etec.energy.gov/Operations/Major_Operations/SNAP... (This was not the RTG of Voyager and other well-known spacecraft)
DylanSp 3y ago
It probably got posted because it's today's featured article on Wikipedia.
vba616 3y ago
>Surely a lot of the dangerous testing could be replaced with simulation During the cold war, starting in the 1960s, weren't there dozens of fission reactor satellites launched into orbit? I don't mean spontaneous decay devices like RTGs, I mean fission reactors. Primarily, but not exclusively Soviet. I bring this up because every discussion I see of the risks of nuclear power in space seems to presume an alternate historical record where political opposition prevented it from becoming a reality. Where uncontrolled deorbiting of reactors or disintegration in orbit were hypothetical and unacceptable failures. I don't know, were we always at war with Eurasia or was it Eastasia? Which history is the disinformation?
preisschild 3y ago
> edit: Looks like there is some research being done, https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-07-26 https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-07-26 Lockheed Martin and BWXT will build a demonstrator vehicle that will power up a reactor in space by 2027. If that timeline holds, then actually seeing a nuclear-powered rocket in space is very near.

scarier 3y ago

Tangentially related: https://www.tor.com/2012/07/20/a-tall-tail/ https://www.tor.com/2012/07/20/a-tall-tail/

mcpackieh 3y ago

> SNPO envisaged the construction of a 20,000 MW nuclear rocket engine Spicy.

pauldenton 3y ago

I always wondered how long until we had nuclear powered helicopters