Nuclear Rocket Engine definition of Nuclear Rocket Engine in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Nuclear Rocket Engine

a rocket engine in which thrust is produced by the energy released in radioactive decay or a nuclear reaction. Depending on the type of nuclear reaction used in the engine, a distinction is made between radioisotope rocket engines, thermonuclear rocket engines, and nuclear rocket engines proper (nuclear-fission rocket engines).

A nuclear-fission rocket engine consists of a reactor, nozzle, turbopump unit for feeding the working fluid to the reactor from the tank of the propulsion unit (where it is stored as a liquid), control units, and other elements. In the nuclear reactor the working fluid is converted to a high-temperature gas that creates thrust as it escapes. The gas for driving the turbopump unit can be produced by heating the main working fluid in the reactor. The nozzle of the turbopump unit and many other units of a nuclear-fission rocket engine are similar to the corresponding units of liquid-propellant rocket engines. The fundamental difference lies in the use of a nuclear reactor instead of a combustion chamber. The advantage of the nuclear-fission rocket engine is the high specific impulse derived from the high exhaust velocity of the working fluid, which reaches 50 km/sec or more. The resulting specific impulse is much higher than in chemical rocket engines, in which the exhaust velocity of the working fluid does not exceed 4.5 km/sec. The US experimental rocket engine Nerva-1, in the developmental stage in 1977, weighs 11 tons and develops a thrust of more than 300 kilonewtons with a specific impulse of 8.1 km/sec. Experimental models of radioisotope rocket engines with thrust ratings with a specific impulse up to several newtons had been developed by 1978. All types of nuclear rocket engines are intended for operation only in outer space.

REFERENCES

Bussard, R. W. and R. D. De Lauer. Raketa s atomnym dvigatelem. Moscow, 1960. (Translated from English.)
Bussard, R. W., and R. D. De Lauer. Iadernye dvigateli dlia samoletov i raket. Moscow, 1967. (Translated from English.)

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No references found	68 TL783 Dewar describes how the US nuclear rocket engine program, Project Rover/NERVA, operated from 1955 to 1973, then was mercilessly stabbed in the back by villainous politicians whose ultimate goal was to destroy the entire US space program. To the end of the solar system; the story of the nuclear rocket, 2d ed by SciTech Book News The leading current-technology candidate for a new propulsion source is the nuclear rocket engine, which was researched but never flight-tested for the Apollo program. Mars Beckons: The Mysteries, the Challenges and the Expectations of ... by Easterbrook, Gregg / Washington Monthly The leading current-technology candidate for a new propulsion source is the nuclear rocket engine, which was researched but never flight-tested for the Apollo program. Out to launch; sending men to Mars may sound like fun, but it doesn't ... by Easterbrook, Gregg / Washington Monthly	nuclear potential energy nuclear potential scattering nuclear power Nuclear Power Industry nuclear power plant nuclear propulsion Nuclear Quadrupole Moment nuclear quadrupole resonance Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance NQR nuclear radiation Nuclear Radiation Detectors nuclear radiation spectroscopy nuclear radius Nuclear Reaction nuclear reaction spectrometry Nuclear Reactor Nuclear Reactor Core nuclear receptor superfamily nuclear recoil Nuclear Regulatory Commission nuclear relaxation nuclear resonance nuclear resonance magnetometer nuclear response function nuclear rocket Nuclear Rocket Engine nuclear scattering nuclear sclerosis Nuclear Shell nuclear ship nuclear snow gage nuclear spallation nuclear species Nuclear spectra Nuclear Spectroscopy nuclear spectrum nuclear spin nuclear spontaneous reaction nuclear stability nuclear star nuclear strategy Nuclear structure nuclear submarine nuclear superheating nuclear teleoperator Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty of 1963 nuclear thermionic converter nuclear time scale nuclear transfer nuclear transformation	Nuclear Research Advisory Council Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group Nuclear Research Center Nuclear Research Centre for Agriculture and Medicine Nuclear Research Corporation Nuclear Reserve Force Nuclear residue Nuclear residue nuclear resonance nuclear resonance Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence Imaging nuclear resonance magnetometer Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopy Nuclear Resonant Absorption Nuclear Resonant Reaction Analysis Nuclear Respiratory Factor 2 nuclear response function Nuclear Ribonucleic Acid Nuclear Ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer Nuclear Risk Management for Native Communities Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Nuclear Risk-Reduction Measure nuclear RNA nuclear RNA nuclear rocket nuclear rocket Nuclear Rocket Development Station Nuclear Rocket Engine Nuclear Rocket Experiment nuclear round Nuclear Safe Orbit Nuclear safety Nuclear Safety Analysis Center Nuclear Safety and Control Act Nuclear Safety and Licensing Nuclear Safety and Security Group Nuclear Safety Cross-Check Analysis Nuclear Safety Directorate Nuclear Safety Executive Board Nuclear Safety Information Center Nuclear Safety Inspection Nuclear Safety Institute nuclear safety line nuclear safety line Nuclear Safety Officer Nuclear Safety Pilot Plant Nuclear Safety Professional Development Program Nuclear Safety Research Management Unit Nuclear Safety Research Programmes Group Nuclear Safety Research Reactor Nuclear Safety Research Steering Group Nuclear Safety Review Board Nuclear Safety Services Department

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68 TL783 Dewar describes how the US nuclear rocket engine program, Project Rover/NERVA, operated from 1955 to 1973, then was mercilessly stabbed in the back by villainous politicians whose ultimate goal was to destroy the entire US space program.

To the end of the solar system; the story of the nuclear rocket, 2d ed by SciTech Book News

The leading current-technology candidate for a new propulsion source is the nuclear rocket engine, which was researched but never flight-tested for the Apollo program.

Mars Beckons: The Mysteries, the Challenges and the Expectations of ... by Easterbrook, Gregg / Washington Monthly

The leading current-technology candidate for a new propulsion source is the nuclear rocket engine, which was researched but never flight-tested for the Apollo program.

Out to launch; sending men to Mars may sound like fun, but it doesn't ... by Easterbrook, Gregg / Washington Monthly

nuclear potential energy

nuclear potential scattering

nuclear power

Nuclear Power Industry

nuclear power plant

nuclear propulsion

Nuclear Quadrupole Moment

nuclear quadrupole resonance

Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance NQR

nuclear radiation

Nuclear Radiation Detectors