Russia Develops Spaceship With Nuclear Engine

Matt_dk writes "The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos has developed a design for a piloted spacecraft powered by a nuclear engine, the head of the agency said on Wednesday. 'The project is aimed at implementing large-scale space exploration programs,' Anatoly Perminov said at a meeting of the commission on the modernization of the Russian economy. He added that the development of Megawatt-class nuclear space power systems (MCNSPS) for manned spacecraft was crucial for Russia if the country wanted to maintain a competitive edge in the space race, including the exploration of the Moon and Mars."

Comments

STIV

[Anonymous Coward]

We are looking for the nuclear wessels!

This isn't correct...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nucular... It's pronounced Nucular!

Re:They haven't "developed" anything

[Mushdot]

Hey man, they like to take their time, you know, not Russian to things.

Nuclear pulse propulsion

[SixDimensionalArray]

It would be interesting to know if the technology includes any stipulation for nuclear pulse propulsion. From the sound of it, that tech was pretty far along over 30 years ago. Space is a big place - would it not be awesome to have a new space race, MINUS the aggression, this time? Or is that simply impossible?

The space WHAT?

[Angst Badger]

Last time I checked, the space race was over for all intents and purposes by the early 1970's, and the world's space agencies had spent the following four decades mostly dicking around half-heartedly.

Mind you, I think a renewed space race would be great. But there isn't one going on right now. There's not even a space special olympics at the moment.

Re:The space WHAT?

[jrst]

Hogwash. The US may has been dicking around, but others haven't. Your comment typifies everything wrong with the typical US attitude to space exploration.

The Russians were in space almost continuously from 1971 onwards--from Salyut, through to Mir and then the ISS--running manned missions and supply flights almost continuously until the present. The only pause in the Russian program was a couple years between the time Mir came down and the first ISS module was put up (again, the Russians).

From 1971-present the US couldn't put a man in space for years over several periods: after Skylab; after Challenger; after Columbia. Meanwhile, the Russians continued to grind along, slowly but surely, providing both manned and unmanned supply flights. Those Progress and Soyuz flights that helped keep the ISS alive? Those were from Russia, using proficiences they developed during the 20+ years *regularly* servicing Salyut and Mir and maintaining a manned presence in space.

Check the total time in orbit for the Salyut and Mir, days inhabited, and the number of missions--it's pretty damned impressive. And that was long before the ISS or the Shuttle.

They weren't "dicking around". They were doing serious science on long-term manned missions, and what it takes to sustain an effort, especially from an operational/practical perspective. It's no accident that a lot of the practical ISS LS systems are based on what the Russians learned and developed. NASA has refined some of those systems, but a lot of the basic tech (air revitalization, toilets, etc.) came from the Russian program.

This isn't a "race", at least if you're interested in more than flags and boots. It's learning. It's exploration not just of places, but of systems. It's engineering. It's figuring out how to make people and machinery work in environments that are hostile and for which many effects are little understood. You do that by trying, correcting, and trying again. That takes time and a sustained effort.

Re:They haven't "developed" anything

[QuantumG]

Check out this book: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=zmpxV1ygjvsC

One of the best collected references on the nuclear thermal rocket propulsion development program that I've ever read.. and almost all the pages are available online.

Re:The space race isn't over...

[cheesybagel]

Well, the Soviet Union dropped a satellite with a BES-5 nuclear reactor over Canada once. But who cares about Canada anyway.

Re:The space race isn't over...

[joaommp]

"I aim vor ze starz, but zumtimes, I hit London."

Werner Von Braun

Re:Sure Russia may not be able to afford it

[demachina]

"What the US needs to get back into the space race is a good old fashioned nose tweaking."

It doesn't seem to be working on the good ole economy front. China is running massive trade surpluses with the U.S., are taking all our jobs, and are seizing control of many of the world's raw materials. If there were any competitive fire left in America's belly it should have surfaced already. You can't really do another Apollo or compete in another space race when you are running trillion dollar trade and budget deficits, and mired in several pointless wars that are consuming what resources aren't going to health care and social security. During the 60's the US was still flush with economic success in the wake of World War II when the rest of the world had been flattened.

The U.S. is starting to more closely resemble an early version of Great Britain, which having lost its empire in World War II and the pounds status as global reserve currency is now mired in debt and can't even support its vastly diminished military or pay its civil servants.

Re:interesting juxtaposition

[CrimsonAvenger]

Is this a "libertarian except for a massive taxpayer-funded space program" sort of thing?

NASA massive?

Social Security is massive.

The military is massive.

Medicare is massive.

Welfare is massive.

Medicaid is massive.

The "War on Terror" is massive.

Department of Health and Human Services isn't so massive, but it's larger than NASA's budget by a factor of four.

Department of Education? bigger than NASA.

Discretionary spending? yep, bigger than NASA.

VA? You might be starting to see a pattern - yes, it's bigger than NASA.

HUD? ditto.

State Department and Foreign Aid? bigger than NASA.

Department of Homeland Security? Still bigger than NASA.

This isn't a conclusive listing of all the things in the Federal Budget that are larger than NASA. What is actually is is a list of all the things in the Federal Budget that would still be bigger than NASA if we doubled NASA's budget.

Re:Hey!

[PReDiToR]

Normally I wouldn't, but it's in keeping with the thread ...

But who cares about Canada anyway.

Hey! Canada's not a joke, Eh!

Fixed that for you.

Fixed that fix for you, Eh never starts the sentence up here, it ends it. For starting we use "Hey" just like you do down south of the line. Oh and get off my lawn!

Fixed that for you. You know where you're from, but remember where you are posting also.

There, fixed that for you.