This text originally appeared on Universe Today.
Getting to Mars takes a extremely very long time, about 9 months utilizing at this time’s rocket technology. It is because common rocket engines burn gas and oxygen collectively (like a automobile engine), however they’re not very environment friendly. The basic drawback is that spacecraft should carry each gas and oxidizer since there’s no air in house to help combustion. This creates a vicious circle: The extra gas you carry to go quicker, the heavier your spacecraft turns into, requiring much more gas to speed up that further weight. To go quicker, you’d want large quantities of gas, making the rockets extremely costly and heavy. Present chemical propulsion programs are nearly at their theoretical limits, with little room for enchancment in effectivity.
While NASA funding has been slashed by the Trump administration with no allocation for nuclear thermal propulsion and/or nuclear electric propulsion, scientists on the European Space Agency (ESA) have been finding out nuclear propulsion. Right here’s the way it works: As an alternative of burning gas with oxygen, a nuclear reactor heats up a propellant like hydrogen. The super-heated propellant then shoots out of the rocket nozzle, pushing the spacecraft ahead. This technique is far more environment friendly than chemical rockets.
Revisiting Nuclear Rockets for Mars
Nuclear rockets supply a number of key benefits, comparable to reducing Mars journey instances in half—from 9 months to about 4 to five months. The effectivity positive factors come from the truth that nuclear reactors produce way more power per unit of gas than chemical reactions. Surprisingly, astronauts would truly obtain much less dangerous radiation on shorter journeys, despite the fact that the engine itself produces radiation. This occurs as a result of house vacationers are always bombarded by cosmic radiation throughout their journey, and reducing journey time in half considerably reduces their complete publicity. These engines work greatest for large spacecraft that want to hurry up and decelerate dramatically, excellent for Moon and Mars missions the place speedy velocity adjustments of no less than 25,000 km/h are required.
The research, referred to as “Alumni,” prioritized security via cautious design. The nuclear reactor solely activates when the spacecraft is much from Earth in a secure orbit. Earlier than activation, the uranium gas has very low radioactivity and isn’t poisonous. A number of radiation shields shield the crew through the brief engine burns that final lower than 2 hours. The reactor is designed by no means to return to Earth’s ambiance. The analysis group spent over a 12 months analyzing this know-how and concluded it’s possible for long-term growth. Nevertheless, there’s nonetheless vital work forward, together with laboratory testing of the brand new ceramic-metal reactor design, constructing secure testing amenities, and fixing technical challenges like gas sourcing and reactor restart programs.
Nuclear thermal propulsion may revolutionize house journey, making missions to Mars and the Moon quicker and extra sensible. Whereas the know-how is promising and seems secure, it’ll take a few years of growth earlier than we see nuclear-powered spacecraft heading to the Purple Planet. It’s nice to see Europe demonstrating that it has the experience to develop this know-how, probably ushering in a brand new period of space exploration the place distant worlds turn into extra accessible than ever earlier than
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