Explore: Nuclear Rocket Engines

A nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) is a type of thermal rocket where the heat from a nuclear reaction replaces the chemical energy of the propellants in a

The Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA; /ˈnɜːrvə/) was a nuclear thermal rocket engine development program that ran for roughly two decades

man-sized weapons to huge spaceships. Compared to other types of jet engine, rocket engines are the lightest and have the highest thrust, but are the least

the overall development and deployment of nuclear rocket engines, and the planning for space missions. Nuclear reactors for Project Rover were built at

which is then exhausted through a rocket nozzle to produce thrust. They are similar in nature to nuclear thermal rockets such as NERVA, but are considerably

nuclear thermal and nuclear electric engines which could be more efficient than conventional rocket engines. The idea of using nuclear material for propulsion

In a traditional nuclear photonic rocket, an onboard nuclear reactor would generate such high temperatures that the blackbody radiation from the reactor

A nuclear electric rocket (more properly nuclear electric propulsion) is a type of spacecraft propulsion system where thermal energy from a nuclear reactor

series replaced the F-1s with large solids, while others studied nuclear rocket engines for the upper stages. Lunar payload for the various models varied

demonstrate nuclear thermal propulsion in orbit by 2027. DRACO was expected to be the first in-orbit test of a nuclear thermal rocket engine using low-enriched