Two designs for this engine were proposed during the united states aircraft nuclear propulsion anp program in the 1950s which was created to develop bombers that could fly to the soviet. A nuclear powered engine would work the same way except the air would not be heated by combustion but via heat exchange with a nuclear fission reactor. The reactor would have to be small enough to fit onto an aircraft which meant it would.
But nuclear power came with its own problems. A nuclear powered airplane could avoid all of these issues. Or the pentagon could double down on a concept that has become popular in recent years.
The consensus could be more giant nuclear powered aircraft carriers. The already gargantuan aircraft was further weighed down with 11 tonnes of. The only nuclear powered aircraft that flew in the west was a heavily modified convair b 36 bomber in the early 1950s.
The advantage of a nuclear powered aircraft over a conventionally powered aircraft is that it could remain airborne orders of magnitude longer and provide an. The united states aircraft reactor experiment are was a 2 5 mw th thermal spectrum nuclear reactor experiment designed to attain a high power density and high output temperature for use as an engine in a nuclear powered bomber aircraft. During the cold war the united states and soviet union researched nuclear powered bomber aircraft the greater endurance of which could enhance nuclear deterrence.
The intention was to produce a jet engine that would heat compressed air with heat from fission instead of heat from burning fuel. A nuclear powered aircraft is a concept for an aircraft intended to be powered by nuclear energy.
