Experts Ponder Nuclear Rockets To Send Humans To Mars wbaa.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wbaa.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Originally published on February 24, 2021 11:26 pm
When NASA s Perseverance rover touched down on the Martian surface last week, humans cheered from the confines of planet Earth.
But if the space agency or others hope to leave and send astronauts to Mars, experts say they need to consider a technology that was studied decades ago but never fully developed: nuclear-powered rockets. If we decide to send humans to Mars, nuclear propulsion is likely to be central to that journey, says Roger Myers, an independent aerospace consultant and co-chair of a panel convened by the National Academies to study nuclear propulsion.
A new report out from Myers and his colleagues suggests that NASA should begin studying nuclear propulsion now, if it hopes to use it in a Mars mission in 2039. Although NASA does spend some money studying the technology, Myers says, funding is going to have to be ramped up significantly if we re going to hit 2039.
Experts Ponder Nuclear Rockets To Send Humans To Mars krcu.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from krcu.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Climate change is an existential threat to humanity. We must use every tool at our disposal to halt and reverse the already damaging impacts of this crisis. The University of Illinois recognizes this, and also recognizes its role in reducing carbon emissions. In 2015, the Illinois Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) published its second version of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP). This plan set a goal to make the U of I carbon neutral by 2050, which includes every scope of emissions; from energy production to the transportation faculty and staff use to get to work. Carbon neutrality is both an ambitious and admirable goal, but it is not easy (otherwise, there would be no climate crisis). U of I is uniquely challenging because most of the campus buildings are heated through district heating, by using steam directly from the campus power plant, Abbott. Generating steam is quite easy for a thermal plant, such as coal, natural gas, or even nuclear. But it