A new concept of nuclear rocket could reduce the journey time from March to two

Ohio State University engineers are developing a new way to make rocket engines, using liquid uranium for a faster and more efficient form of nuclear propulsion that could return to a return to March in a single year.

NASA and its private partners have its eyes on the Moon and Mars, aimed at establishing a regular human presence on distant celestial bodies. The future of space trips depends on the construction of rocket engines that can propel vehicles further into space and do it faster. Nuclear thermal propulsion is currently at the forefront of new motor technologies aimed at considerably reducing the journey time while allowing useful heavier loads.

Travel faster than before

Nuclear propulsion uses a nuclear reactor to heat a liquid propeller at extremely high temperatures, transforming it into a gas expelled through a nozzle and used to generate a thrust. The newly developed engine concept, called the centrifugal nuclear thermal rocket (CNTR), uses liquid uranium directly to heat the rocket propellant. In doing so, the engine promises more efficiency than traditional chemical rockets, as well as other nuclear propulsion engines, according to new research published in Astronautics.

If this turns out to be successful, the CNTR could allow future vehicles to travel further using less fuel. Traditional chemical engines produce approximately 450 seconds of thrust from a given quantity of propellants, a measure known as the specific impulse. Nuclear propulsion engines can reach around 900 seconds, the CNTR may pushing this even higher number.

“You may have a one -way trip safely in March in six months, for example, instead of doing the same mission in one year,” said Spencer Christian, doctoral student at Ohio State and CNTR prototype construction leader, in a statement. “According to its operation, the prototype of the CNTR engine pushes us to the future.”

The CNTR promises faster roads, but it could also use different types of propellants, such as ammonia, methane, hydrazine or propane, which can be found in asteroids or other objects in space.

The concept is still in its infancy, and some engineering challenges remain before CNTR can steal missions towards Mars. The engineers work to ensure that the start, stop and operation of the engine do not cause instability, while finding means to minimize the loss of liquid uranium.

“We have a very good understanding of the physics of our conception, but there are still technical challenges that we must overcome,” said Dean Wang, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ohio State and the main member of the CNTR project, in a press release. “We must maintain the nuclear propulsion of space as a coherent priority in the future, so that technology can have time to mature.”