New Mars Forums

prometheusunbound

Banned

From: ohio

Registered: 2003-07-02

Posts: 209

Website

Re: Nuclear Thermal Rockets - should nuke rockets be used on a mars ms

Couldn't it be possible to revive NERVA from the grave so that a modern mars mission could use nuclear propulsion?  NERVA was a nuclear rocket program done 30 years ago in a followup to apollo.  The advantage of NTR (nuclear thermal rocket) are such that they are clearly more powerful and possibly even safter than chemical rockets.  Nuclear bombs have never been tested in the orion style but NERVA actually fired quite a large number of their rockets.

---

"I am the spritual son of Abraham, I fear no man and no man controls my destiny"

TJohn

Banned

Registered: 2002-08-06

Posts: 149

Re: Nuclear Thermal Rockets - should nuke rockets be used on a mars ms

I've thought about that to, prometheusunbound.  I don't recall Dr. Zubrin mentioning the use of NERVA for a Mars mission.  If I remember correctly, he would like to use nuclear propulsion but did not want to wait for the development.  I'm probably quoting him incorrectly.   

I'm all for the use of NERVA or anything that uses nuclear propulsion!      It's a shame that it was not developed further.

---

One day...we will get to Mars and the rest of the galaxy!!  Hopefully it will be by Nuclear power!!!

RobertDyck

Moderator

From: Winnipeg, Canada

Registered: 2002-08-20

Posts: 7,811

Website

Re: Nuclear Thermal Rockets - should nuke rockets be used on a mars ms

Nerva was revived, and a study to update it was completed in 1991. Nerva 2 would have a slightly higher Isp than the 1972 version: 925 seconds instead of 825 seconds. Timberwind was also developed, it was a pebble bed fast reactor with 1,000 second Isp and lower engine mass. Bottom line: these designs are sitting on a shelf.

RobertDyck

Moderator

From: Winnipeg, Canada

Registered: 2002-08-20

Posts: 7,811

Website

Re: Nuclear Thermal Rockets - should nuke rockets be used on a mars ms

I agree with NuclearSpace. I was one of the people saying that nuclear power would be nice, but fighting two political battles was not wise. We have to convince the politicians to invest money in space, and that is proving to be a big political fight on its own, so I didn't want to take on the anti-nuclear movement. Nuclear power is a great advancement to space exploration, but I didn't think it wise. Now that nuclear power in space is politically acceptable, let's support it.

What we need to see is full funding of VASIMR, nuclear reactors capable of supplying VASIMR, and most importantly launch of Prometheus. Write to your congressmen.

space_psibrain

Member

Registered: 2002-02-15

Posts: 83

Re: Nuclear Thermal Rockets - should nuke rockets be used on a mars ms

NERVA is good and all, but the whole concept of orion is a bit disturbing to me. Yes, i know that the bombs will be used in space, where there a significant amount of radiation anyways, but there exists the possibility of something going very wrong with orion. You will be carrying nuclear bombs on board.

---

"What you don't realize about peace, is that is cannot be achieved by yielding to an enemy. Rather, peace is something that must be fought for, and if it is necessary for a war to be fought to preserve the peace, then I would more than willingly give my life for the cause of peace."

space_psibrain

Member

Registered: 2002-02-15

Posts: 83

Re: Nuclear Thermal Rockets - should nuke rockets be used on a mars ms

What we need to see is full funding of VASIMR, nuclear reactors capable of supplying VASIMR, and most importantly launch of Prometheus. Write to your congressmen.

Ah yes, vasimir..it has the potential to be great for interplanetary work and such. And I've been writing to my congressman. 

---

"What you don't realize about peace, is that is cannot be achieved by yielding to an enemy. Rather, peace is something that must be fought for, and if it is necessary for a war to be fought to preserve the peace, then I would more than willingly give my life for the cause of peace."

Gennaro

Member

From: Eta Cassiopeiae (no, Sweden re

Registered: 2003-03-25

Posts: 591

Re: Nuclear Thermal Rockets - should nuke rockets be used on a mars ms

I've read George Dyson's book on the Orion Project and a good read it was. In it (too bad I can't give an exact reference since I lent it out to other interested parties) a certain nuclear bomb expert involved in bomb design since the fourties, claimed that Orion pulse units could in principle be made as clean as you want them. Thing is no one in the 'industry' has yet made that a priority.
If that's reasonably true and considering that atomic weapons generally don't go off simply by themselves, I deduce that a catastrophic failure of an Orion wouldn't be such a serious issue after all. A Nuclear Thermal Rocket, at least a "nuclear lightbulb", exploding in the atmosphere, could well be a lot worse in terms of fall out.