NASA’s push for a new nuclear rocket engine is not just another upgrade to the hardware we strap to the bottom of spacecraft.

MOSCOW, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- A nuclear-powered space engine prototype must be developed in Russia by 2030, and two gigafactories will be opened this year, Alexei Likhachev, director general of Russia's ...

Jim Bickford is leading the Thin Film Isotope Nuclear Engine Rocket (TFINER) project to develop a system for propelling a craft through space faster and farther than ever before. This technology has ...

That something is nuclear propulsion. Essentially, a nuclear rocket engine is a reactor that has hydrogen running through it as a propellant, which is heated to an astonishing 3,000 K (2,727 °C, 4,940 ...

AI gives a thumbs up to Brett Bellmore innovative modifications to Robert Zubrin’s Nuclear Salt Water Rocket (NSWR). Switching from water to polyethene and storing in sausage strings could enhance its ...

The key component of Russia’s Burevestnik cruise missile is its engine — for the first time in the world, a compact nuclear ‘heart’ has been created. How can similar technologies be applied in the ...

Scientists have developed a new form of nuclear propulsion that they claim could slash mission times to Mars and enable voyages to the farthest reaches of the solar system. A team from Ohio State ...

The best, in fact, the only, candidate for this is the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system or nuclear rocket. First conceived of in 1945, this is a rocket that replaces burning chemical fuel with ...

Viewed from orbit, Jackass Flats — situated in southern Nevada about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas — could easily be confused for Mars. The alluvial basin is full of tan and gray regolith, hued ...

Introduction -- Rocket engine fundamentals -- Nuclear rocket engine cycles -- Interplanetary mission analysis -- Basic nuclear structure and processes -- Neutron flux energy distribution -- Neutron ...