by Fatihah
photo by google
Among the proposals put forward is to use a nuclear-powered rocket engine. The United Kingdom Space Agency has announced that they are also interested in developing this engine. They, therefore, partnered with Roll-Royce to study the usability of nuclear rocket engines. Many may realize Rolls-Royce has expertise because it previously built nuclear reactors for Royal Navy-owned submarines.
The project is similar to the Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies (USNC-Tech) project whose concept was shared with NASA in October last year. The difference between a chemical rocket and a nuclear rocket lies in the efficiency of the fuel it burns. With higher efficiency, for the same hydrogen fuel higher thrust can be produced. It is estimated that travel to Mars could be shortened to three months - a reduction of over 50%.
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