Sspl getty images but building an ntp engine is just. A nuclear thermal propulsion rocket concept that was part of the nuclear engine for rocket vehicle application nerva program circa 1965. Posted august 13 2019 11 44 23 the nerva development program demonstrated the feasibility of nuclear thermal rocket engines as a.
The us experimented with nuclear rocket engines for two decades. However in 1963 the nuclear rocket program was re viewed and redirected toward an engine technology program focused on ground tests only. Initially a nuclear rocket engine flight test was planned.
Rocket engine development began in 1961 with the selection of the industrial contractors aerojet and westinghouse to develop the nerva engine. The nuclear engine for rocket vehicle applications nerva was a joint nasa and atomic energy commission endeavor to develop a nuclear powered rocket for both long range missions to mars and as a possible upper stage for the apollo program. The goal of the nerva program was to take the graphite based nuclear reactor built at los alamos scientific laboratory lasl under the rover program which had begun in 1956.
Nerva nuclear engine for rocket vehicle application was an american rocket program started in 1963 to develop a thermal nuclear propulsion system for use on long range lunar and interplanetary manned space missions. Unlike the aec work which was intended to study the reactor design itself nerva s goal was to produce a real engine that could be deployed on space missions. The 1961 nerva program was intended to lead to the entry of nuclear thermal rocket engines into space exploration.
Nerva was a joint effort of the atomic energy. Its principal objective was to establish a technology base for nuclear rocket engine systems to be utilized in the design and development of propulsion systems for space mission application. The nuclear engine for rocket vehicle application nerva was a nuclear thermal rocket engine development program that ran for roughly two decades.
