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The US government is taking a serious step toward space-based nuclear propulsion (arstechnica.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Four years from now, if all goes well, a nuclear-powered rocket engine will launch into space for the first time. The rocket itself will be conventional, but the payload boosted into orbit will be a different matter.

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[–] 27 points 3 years ago (2 children)

KSP is finally starting to become reality! For those who haven't played, there is an equivalent engine in the game called the "Nerv" which functions on the same principle, and is an incredibly useful engine. It's cool to see this idea finally be developed into a real system

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    It's incredibly useful in the game because it runs on the same liquid fuel that jet engines and rockets use (rockets also need oxidiser). It wouldn't be as useful without that crossover.

    Edit: I just realised that's pretty much what's happening here. The nuclear rocket uses hydrogen, and while it isn't the most common rocket fuel these days hydrogen + oxidiser would be a functional rocket fuel. You could even run jets off it.

    KSP also uses hydrogen fuel cells, which I think use liquid fuel to generate power. So it's all pretty close.

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