I was amused to read recently that the US military plans to send nuclear reactors into space, as if space is not already pretty full of nuclear reactors. Unfortunately, neither the US military nor anyone else on Earth has yet worked out how to harness nuclear fusion – the process that powers the sun and all the other stars. The only human use of fusion is in thermonuclear weapons. This more modest plan involves sending ordinary fission reactors into space.
7 Space Concepts That Were Too Wild for NASA gizmodo.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gizmodo.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is the preferred propulsion technology for manned missions throughout the solar system. The state-of-the-art NTP cycle is
U.S. defense and space agencies are working toward the world’s first in-orbit demo of a nuclear thermal rocket. It will support commercial activit on the moon.