NASA wants to launch a nuclear-powered rocket into space in 2027

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced plans

to launch a rocket equipped with a nuclear engine. It will take flight in the second half of this decade.

What is known

The space agency says the launchmissiles will not threaten the inhabitants of the Earth. The nuclear power plant will be disabled during launch. It will start working only when the rocket moves to a safe distance from the surface of our planet.

To implement the project, NASA is collaborating withUS Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The rocket launch is scheduled for 2027. It will use a prototype engine with a thrust of approximately 10,000 tons. By comparison, the 33 Raptor V3 engines in the Super Heavy rocket will produce less than 9,000 tons of thrust.

For the last time the nuclear fission systemwas in space in the spring of 1965. Then, within the framework of the SNAPSHOT program, the American experimental satellite SNAP-10A, equipped with a nuclear power plant, was launched.

Source: WCCFTech