By nuke rocket OUTER SPACE TRIPS CUT TO 3 MONTHS
A TECH firm claims it has designed a nuclearpowered rocket which could get astronauts to Mars in just three months.
Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies says its proposed shuttle is twice as efficient as current machines – and could carry a crew to the Red Planet in a third of the time it would currently take.
The spacecraft would launch using conventional rocket engines before firing up a nuclear reactor in orbit to avoid endangering people on the ground.
Then a nuclear thermal propulsion engine would power it through space using a revolutionary fuel.
Michael Eades, of the Seattle-based firm, said the engines could make a “good choice for human exploration to Mars”.
A crewed mission would take at least nine months using existing technology.
Expand
But Nasa wants to shorten the journey to cut the time astronauts spend in space and limit exposure to radiation. It plans to land humans on the planet, around 140million miles away, by 2035.
One of the main obstacles to shorter missions is finding a uranium fuel that can withstand the temperatures in a nuclear engine.
But USNT says it has developed one that can operate at 2,425 degrees Celsius – to help take crews to Mars and beyond.
Mr Eades added: “Nuclear technology will expand humanity’s reach beyond low Earth orbit, and into deep space.”
The firm has shown its work to Nasa and hopes to develop it for the commercial space market.