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starship-design: Fwd: nasa nuke rocket articles mars by 2010
Last Friday NASA got approval for a nuclear propulsion program, and It looks
like Bush will announce a man to Mars by 2010 program. They hope the project
will push tech, and make engineering more apealling to kids.
Of more interest s that they are even considering nuclear powered RLV's. One
idea had the hot hydrogen exaust from a nuclear thermal Rocket, mixed witrh
air and burned. THAT WOULD HAVE A HELL OF A SPEC IMPULSE!!!! I'm guessing
something effectivly showing 5,000 isp in the air!!
VERY COOL!
;)
Kelly Starks
> 19 January 2003: NASA plans two-month manned dash
> to Mars, LA Times
> article via The Age
> http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/18/1042520819544.html
>
> NASA plans two-month manned dash
to Mars
January 19 2003
By Duncan Campbell
Los Angeles
The United States was hoping to send
an astronaut to Mars in a
nuclear-powered rocket within eight
years, said a senior NASA official.
Under the space agency's ambitious
plan, the project would involve a
two-month journey to Mars in a
spaceship travelling at three times the
present speed of space travel.
President George Bush may
announce the plan, termed Project
Prometheus, in his State of the Union
address on January 28, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The plan would commit the US to the exploration of Mars
as a
priority, and herald the development of a nuclear-powered
propulsion system.
The first voyage could be as early as 2010.
The plan brings to mind the words of President John
Kennedy, who,
on May 25, 1961, said: "I believe that this nation should
commit
itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out,
of landing a
man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."
On July 20, 1969, Apollo XI landed on the area known as
the Sea of
Tranquillity.
A NASA administrator, Sean O'Keefe, said: "We're talking
about
doing something, on a very aggressive schedule, to not
only
develop the capabilities for nuclear propulsion and power
generation, but to have a mission using the new
technology within
this decade."
Nasa would be expected to ask Boeing to assist in the
design of
the new rocket.
Spacecraft at present travel at 28,000kmh.
The goal is to build a vehicle that uses small nuclear
reactors to
give the engines greater thrust and circumvent problems
of fuel
supply.
This would mean that the craft could reach Mars within
two months
as opposed to six to seven months.
"We've been restricted to the same speed for 40 years,"
Mr
O'Keefe said.
"With the new technology, where we go next will be
limited only by
our imagination."
There may, however, be limitations of a different kind.
With the US entering a recession and facing the potential
costs of
attacking Iraq, Congress may not be willing to sign a
blank cheque
for a multi-billion-dollar project with no guarantee of
success.
Part of the attraction now for the project would be the
stimulus it
could provide for scientists and engineers.
Many pioneers of space travel have retired, or are about
to retire,
and they are not being replaced.
And the numbers of students enrolling in tertiary science
and
engineering courses have declined.
Some observer say a Mars project could improve the
industry's
image.
The project throws up many questions about the effects of
such
travel on humans.
Already astronauts are returning to Earth with a decrease
of up to
30 per cent in their muscle mass and 10 per cent in bone
mass.
The more arduous flight to Mars would increase such
problems.
And there would be medical concerns about nuclear
radiation.
* From Cape Canaveral, BROWARD LISTON reports that
astronauts in
the space shuttle Columbia spent their first full day in
space working on
experiments on subjects ranging from dust storms to
prostate cancer.
Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, worked on an
Earth-study project
called MEIDEX (for Mediterranean Israeli dust
experiment), which
aims to film dust storms that sweep off the Sahara Desert
and
spread around much of the planet. The effect of such
suspended
particles (aerosols) on global climate has never been
studied in
such detail.
Other Columbia astronauts were working on a study
designed to
show how prostate cancer spreads to bones and how bone
cells
react in zero gravity.
Columbia's seven astronauts are working two 12-hour
shifts,
meaning 24-hour research on the 16-day mission, one of
the
longest in the shuttle program's history.
======================
> http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4967388.htm
>
>
NASA eyes nuclear-powered rocket
Agency expected to seek funding to develop way to
travel 3 times faster
PETER PAE
Los Angeles Times
Hoping to pave the way for the human exploration of
Mars within the next
decade, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration is expected to
announce that developing a nuclear-powered rocket is
its top research priority.
The space agency is expected to request "significant
resources and funding" to
design a nuclear-powered propulsion system to triple
the speed of current space
travel, theoretically making it possible for humans to
reach Mars in a two-month
voyage.
The Bush administration has signed off on the
ambitious nuclear-rocket
propulsion project, dubbed Project Prometheus --
though not specifically for the
Mars landing -- and the president may officially
launch the initiative during his
State of the Union address on Jan. 28, NASA
Administrator Sean O'Keefe said.
The initiative would greatly expand the nuclear
propulsion plans that NASA
quietly announced last year when the agency said it
may spend $1 billion over
the next five years to design a nuclear rocket.
NASA and the Bush administration are keeping the lid
on the details, including
how much more it expects to request from Congress, but
O'Keefe said the
funding increase will be "very significant."
--- Begin Message ---
I wonder if they'll need any contractors.
:)
> 19 January 2003: NASA plans two-month manned dash
> to Mars, LA Times
> article via The Age
> http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/18/1042520819544.html
>
> NASA plans two-month manned dash
to Mars
January 19 2003
By Duncan Campbell
Los Angeles
The United States was hoping to send
an astronaut to Mars in a
nuclear-powered rocket within eight
years, said a senior NASA official.
Under the space agency's ambitious
plan, the project would involve a
two-month journey to Mars in a
spaceship travelling at three times the
present speed of space travel.
President George Bush may
announce the plan, termed Project
Prometheus, in his State of the Union
address on January 28, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The plan would commit the US to the exploration of Mars
as a
priority, and herald the development of a nuclear-powered
propulsion system.
The first voyage could be as early as 2010.
The plan brings to mind the words of President John
Kennedy, who,
on May 25, 1961, said: "I believe that this nation should
commit
itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out,
of landing a
man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."
On July 20, 1969, Apollo XI landed on the area known as
the Sea of
Tranquillity.
A NASA administrator, Sean O'Keefe, said: "We're talking
about
doing something, on a very aggressive schedule, to not
only
develop the capabilities for nuclear propulsion and power
generation, but to have a mission using the new
technology within
this decade."
Nasa would be expected to ask Boeing to assist in the
design of
the new rocket.
Spacecraft at present travel at 28,000kmh.
The goal is to build a vehicle that uses small nuclear
reactors to
give the engines greater thrust and circumvent problems
of fuel
supply.
This would mean that the craft could reach Mars within
two months
as opposed to six to seven months.
"We've been restricted to the same speed for 40 years,"
Mr
O'Keefe said.
"With the new technology, where we go next will be
limited only by
our imagination."
There may, however, be limitations of a different kind.
With the US entering a recession and facing the potential
costs of
attacking Iraq, Congress may not be willing to sign a
blank cheque
for a multi-billion-dollar project with no guarantee of
success.
Part of the attraction now for the project would be the
stimulus it
could provide for scientists and engineers.
Many pioneers of space travel have retired, or are about
to retire,
and they are not being replaced.
And the numbers of students enrolling in tertiary science
and
engineering courses have declined.
Some observer say a Mars project could improve the
industry's
image.
The project throws up many questions about the effects of
such
travel on humans.
Already astronauts are returning to Earth with a decrease
of up to
30 per cent in their muscle mass and 10 per cent in bone
mass.
The more arduous flight to Mars would increase such
problems.
And there would be medical concerns about nuclear
radiation.
* From Cape Canaveral, BROWARD LISTON reports that
astronauts in
the space shuttle Columbia spent their first full day in
space working on
experiments on subjects ranging from dust storms to
prostate cancer.
Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, worked on an
Earth-study project
called MEIDEX (for Mediterranean Israeli dust
experiment), which
aims to film dust storms that sweep off the Sahara Desert
and
spread around much of the planet. The effect of such
suspended
particles (aerosols) on global climate has never been
studied in
such detail.
Other Columbia astronauts were working on a study
designed to
show how prostate cancer spreads to bones and how bone
cells
react in zero gravity.
Columbia's seven astronauts are working two 12-hour
shifts,
meaning 24-hour research on the 16-day mission, one of
the
longest in the shuttle program's history.
======================
> http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4967388.htm
>
>
NASA eyes nuclear-powered rocket
Agency expected to seek funding to develop way to
travel 3 times faster
PETER PAE
Los Angeles Times
Hoping to pave the way for the human exploration of
Mars within the next
decade, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration is expected to
announce that developing a nuclear-powered rocket is
its top research priority.
The space agency is expected to request "significant
resources and funding" to
design a nuclear-powered propulsion system to triple
the speed of current space
travel, theoretically making it possible for humans to
reach Mars in a two-month
voyage.
The Bush administration has signed off on the
ambitious nuclear-rocket
propulsion project, dubbed Project Prometheus --
though not specifically for the
Mars landing -- and the president may officially
launch the initiative during his
State of the Union address on Jan. 28, NASA
Administrator Sean O'Keefe said.
The initiative would greatly expand the nuclear
propulsion plans that NASA
quietly announced last year when the agency said it
may spend $1 billion over
the next five years to design a nuclear rocket.
NASA and the Bush administration are keeping the lid
on the details, including
how much more it expects to request from Congress, but
O'Keefe said the
funding increase will be "very significant."
--- End Message ---