NERVA

NERVA ( Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application ) was a 1954-1972 run of the NASA program to develop a nuclear-powered rocket stage for the manned flight to Mars.

The project began when in 1955 the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the U.S. Air Force sought new rocket engines. The newly founded NASA took over the project in 1958 by the U.S. Air Force and examined its applicability to long-term space missions. Main element of the actuator is a nuclear reactor, the feed-through hydrogen is heated to 3000 ° C, where the rocket is driving forward during the outflow.

NERVA came across some ground tests not extend to the nuclear test site in Nevada. The Nixon administration circumcised the budget of the project dramatically as the early 1970s, declined the public interest in the space after the last moon landing in 1972. Follow-up program was the 1992 set project Timber Wind.

Specifications

  • Diameter: 10,55 m
  • Length: 43.69 m
  • Empty weight: 34,019 kg
  • Fueled weight: 178,321 kg
  • Thrust in a vacuum: 867 kN
  • Specific impulse () in a vacuum: 825 s (8.09 kN · s / kg)
  • At sea level: 380 s ( 3.73 kN · s / kg)
  • Burn time: 1200 s
  • Fuel: Kernreaktor/LH2
  • Nozzles: 1 Nerva -2
Project Timberwind Project Orion (nuclear propulsion) Project Prometheus
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