Nuclear Rocket Engine für Moon und Mars – Die europäische Weltraumbehörde hat eine Studie über den europäischen nuklearen thermischen Antrieb beauftragt, der Mond und Mars schnellere Missionen ermöglichen würde als derzeit möglich

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While it is possible to travel to distant destinations such as Mars, the use of chemical propulsion results in long travel times, taking nine months to get to our neighbouring planet. This is because changing the speed of the spacecraft requires bringing a large amount of propellant. As there is no air in space, spacecraft with chemical propulsion carry fuel and oxidiser in their tanks for combustion. Their efficiency is low, limiting the maximum speed with the amount of propellant in their tanks. Rapid acceleration and deceleration requires huge volumes of propellant, and although technically feasible, it is excessively expensive with current technology.

A possible solution is nuclear thermal propulsion where nuclear fission reactions could be used to heat a propellant which is expelled through the rocket engine’s nozzle and propels the spacecraft to its destination. There is a long history of research into nuclear thermal propulsion which has been demonstrated to allow for highly-efficient transportation by providing high thrust, allowing for faster travel. For fast transits to distant destinations in space, nuclear thermal propulsion could be advantageous compared to chemical or electric propulsion solutions.