this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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The US government is taking a serious step toward space-based nuclear propulsion (arstechnica.com)
submitted 2 years ago by thejml@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Four years from now, if all goes well, a nuclear-powered rocket engine will launch into space for the first time. The rocket itself will be conventional, but the payload boosted into orbit will be a different matter.

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[–] rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I don't see much of a difference between this and current technology. NASA has been using nuclear reactors in probes and rovers for quite some time. Presently deep space probes use nuclear reactors to generate electricity. Propulsion is produced by using electricity to accelerate ions. The ions come from gas stored in cold liquid form.

I don't see any breakthrough technology here. From what I can tell reading the article, it's just a lightly different way of creating propulsion, pressurizing the gas with heat instead of accelerating it with an electromagnetic field. Seems like a step back actually.