Tag: nuclear power
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USNC-Tech and Blue Origin win a contract for nuclear thermal propulsion design
An artist’s conception shows a spacecraft with a nuclear thermal propulsion system. (NASA Illustration) Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies and its partners are among three teams winning $5 million contracts from NASA and the Department of Energy to develop reactor designs for space-based nuclear thermal propulsion systems. USNC-Tech’s partners include its parent company, Ultra Safe…
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Space nuclear power is nearing critical mass as the final frontier’s next frontier
An artist’s conception shows a spacecraft firing up its nuclear thermal propulsion system. (DARPA Illlustration) The idea of putting nukes in space may sound like a national security nightmare, but the right kind of nukes are likely to be a must-have for long-term space exploration. At least that’s the way a panel of experts at…
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Lasers on the moon? Nuclear rockets? NASA awards millions for way-out tech
Future spaceships could use nuclear thermal propulsion to get to Mars quickly. (Illustration via USNC-Tech) NASA’s latest crop of space technology grants will fund work on projects ranging from power-beaming lasers for lunar missions to high-temperature testing of components for nuclear-powered rockets. Those are just a couple of the 365 concepts attracting a total of…