Re:NASA Wants to Send Nuclear Rockets to the Moon and Mars
by wfbarks on Friday September 27, 2019 @10:51AM
(#21092618)
For the first time, period. Doesn’t look like we had one 60 years ago...
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Re:NASA Wants to Send Nuclear Rockets to the Moon and Mars
by ceejayoz on Friday September 27, 2019 @11:01AM
(#21092730)
We did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NERVA
Tested successfully (on the ground) in the 60s.
Real pity about its cancellation, too. It was considered for the "Grand Tour" that the Voyager probes wound up doing; they could've sent nearly 30x the spacecraft mass with NERVA rockets.
Re:NASA Wants to Send Nuclear Rockets to the Moon and Mars
by autokad on Friday September 27, 2019 @12:24PM
(#21093629)
I don't have time to verify the video at the moment, but I believe this is them testing said engine 60 years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmxPRCyR-Co