NASA awards three contracts to develop nuclear propulsion concepts
Capitalism in space: NASA yesterday awarded three different contracts to three different corporation partnerships to develop new nuclear propulsion concepts for use in space.
The contracts, to be awarded through the DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL), are each valued at approximately $5 million. They fund the development of various design strategies for the specified performance requirements that could aid in deep space exploration.
Nuclear propulsion provides greater propellant efficiency as compared with chemical rockets. It’s a potential technology for crew and cargo missions to Mars and science missions to the outer solar system, enabling faster and more robust missions in many cases.
The contracts went to these partnerships:
- Lockheed Martin and BWX Technologies
- Aerojet Rocketdyne, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, and X-energy
- Blue Origin, Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, General Electric Hitachi Nuclear Energy, General Electric Research, Framatome, and Materion
Once the concepts are put forth at the end of the 12-month contracts, the DOE’s laboratory will review them and make recommendations to NASA for further work.
This contract, along with other NASA contracts to develop nuclear power for use on planetary surfaces, strongly suggests that the fear of using nuclear power in space is receding. If so, the capabilities in space will increase significantly in the coming years.
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Capitalism in space: NASA yesterday awarded three different contracts to three different corporation partnerships to develop new nuclear propulsion concepts for use in space.
The contracts, to be awarded through the DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL), are each valued at approximately $5 million. They fund the development of various design strategies for the specified performance requirements that could aid in deep space exploration.
Nuclear propulsion provides greater propellant efficiency as compared with chemical rockets. It’s a potential technology for crew and cargo missions to Mars and science missions to the outer solar system, enabling faster and more robust missions in many cases.
The contracts went to these partnerships:
- Lockheed Martin and BWX Technologies
- Aerojet Rocketdyne, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, and X-energy
- Blue Origin, Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, General Electric Hitachi Nuclear Energy, General Electric Research, Framatome, and Materion
Once the concepts are put forth at the end of the 12-month contracts, the DOE’s laboratory will review them and make recommendations to NASA for further work.
This contract, along with other NASA contracts to develop nuclear power for use on planetary surfaces, strongly suggests that the fear of using nuclear power in space is receding. If so, the capabilities in space will increase significantly in the coming years.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I would like to see SpaceX buy both BWX Technologies and General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, and then merge them to supercharge the engineering efforts for nuclear space propulsion. This would also give Musk the nuclear engineering know how to power Mars Settlements and to power Starship In-Situ Propellant Production.
It’s about freaking time. Hopefully something will come from this
However, I am concerned by some of the names here that we won’t see anything for another 20-30 years. Plus $5 million is not very much at all.
$5M will buy a couple of Powerpoint decks and maybe a few computer animations. And both will likely be pitches for additional funds “to further explore the technology.”
What sort are these? Rover/ Nerva, I suspect. But De Hoffman’s General Atomic was behind the Orion nuclear pulse concept.
The last time they funded a Nerva type – Timberwind – they weren’t serious about anything but training engineers and physicists; they had a laminar flow heat exchanger. If such a device is hot enough that the exhaust is plasma, they may do some interesting tricks with magnetic fields.
I wonder if they COULD get away with an Orion type. That would put a great many people into a gibbering fit. If they can keep their ablatives working, they could have an amazing Isp.
Or is their a new system?
David,
Yes it is a Nuclear Thermal Rocket (NTR). I am sure they will go and look at the solid, liquid, and gas versions, and I bet the results will show all three groups going with a solid NTR that is just like Rover/NERVA since the R&D is already done with the KIWI tests.
I agree with you guys, $5M is nothing.
Sorry David, I forgot to answer your question about an Orion type propulsion. No, it would never be allowed. First we have three treaties that ban it and second you would have every anti-nuke kook from here to Beijing protesting. Mention that idea to AOC and she will go prompt critical with a yield of 10kt. Pelosi would yield 20kt.
“Mention that idea to AOC and she will go prompt critical with a yield of 10kt. Pelosi would yield 20kt.”
So what would be the down side?
Bezos just needs to write General Atomics a big check.
David/Jay–
Thanks for bringing that up. (nerva/kiwi, et al)
an oldy but a goody–
Nuclear Propulsion in Space
NASA (1968)
https://youtu.be/eDNX65d-FBY
23:48
(This is also available at archive(dot)org, in case anyone wants to avoid YT.)
Just as a general comment—
Sometimes…. I get this nagging feeling with a few select ‘old ideas’, that what winds up happening is the taxpayers have to pony up for “R&D” that has already been done. (or worse, ‘they’ didn’t even bother archiving the data from the 1st time around.)
And yeah, $5 million doesn’t cover much these days as it relates to govt spending (sad but true)— is this an example of constructing an eventual buy-in scenario?
–
Here we go…
“Nuclear Propulsion in Space”
https://archive.org/details/25192NuclearPropulsionInSpace
“Produced by the Atomic Energy Agency and NASA, this film details Project NERVA — the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application. This was a joint program of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and NASA managed by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office (SNPO) at the Nuclear Rocket Development Station in Jackass Flats, Nevada U.S.A. Between 1959 and 1972, the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office oversaw 23 reactor tests……”
Ishmael has a point. David, you now have your Orion program with an abundant fuel source. With the number of liberals in congress, you could probably achieve half the speed of light to Proxima Centauri!
Wayne,
I have the same videos in my NERVA collection and I see the NASA channel actually plays that first film. That first film is a goody!
A wonderful bit of infighting: Dr. Bussard claimed he was the one who cancelled Orion. They never did get a test to see if the ablative oil would hold up to multiple blasts. Robert Bussard was a yachtsman and believed that turbulence on the pusher plate would lead to waves of exposed metal and cause catastrophic failure.