I remember reading an article about a year ago about the possible uses for nuclear propulsion. NASA had been thinking of using it for a manned Mars mission. I agree that this could be a viable solution, much more viable in the near future than anti-matter. Instead of the closed loop used in a nuclear reactor, you just shoot the coolant (ammonia, hydrogen, or even water) out the back. You'll still have to have a lot of reaction mass, but that mass is far less than in a chemical rocket. Unfortunately, there's that whole "nuclear is bad" shtick that is thrown around by ignorami who think it's pronounced "nookyuler".
Several years ago, people protested when NASA launched Galileo, and again when NASA launched Cassini. They were afraid the probes would hit Earth when they used it for the gravitational slingshot effect. We all know how that turned out. One has made several important discoveries and the other could do the same in a few years. I for one would like to see NASA go ahead and develop a good nuclear propulsion system despite the outcries from hysterical luddites. It could be cheap if based on some of the new nuclear technologies I've seen lately. It's clean since the fissile material doesn't go anywhere. It would be safer for the astronauts who would be able to travel to Mars in much less time than with chemical rockets. And, most importantly, nuclear propulsion just sounds cool.
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I remember reading an article about a year ago about the possible uses for nuclear propulsion. NASA had been thinking of using it for a manned Mars mission. I agree that this could be a viable solution, much more viable in the near future than anti-matter. Instead of the closed loop used in a nuclear reactor, you just shoot the coolant (ammonia, hydrogen, or even water) out the back. You'll still have to have a lot of reaction mass, but that mass is far less than in a chemical rocket. Unfortunately, there's that whole "nuclear is bad" shtick that is thrown around by ignorami who think it's pronounced "nookyuler".
Several years ago, people protested when NASA launched Galileo, and again when NASA launched Cassini. They were afraid the probes would hit Earth when they used it for the gravitational slingshot effect. We all know how that turned out. One has made several important discoveries and the other could do the same in a few years. I for one would like to see NASA go ahead and develop a good nuclear propulsion system despite the outcries from hysterical luddites. It could be cheap if based on some of the new nuclear technologies I've seen lately. It's clean since the fissile material doesn't go anywhere. It would be safer for the astronauts who would be able to travel to Mars in much less time than with chemical rockets. And, most importantly, nuclear propulsion just sounds cool.