NASA Invests in New Nuclear Concept for the Future of Space Exploration and Astrophysics

taylorvich writes:

https://phys.org/news/2024-01-nasa-invests-nuclear-rocket-concept.html

In the coming years, NASA plans to send several astrobiology missions to Venus and Mars to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. These will occur alongside crewed missions to the moon (for the first time since the Apollo Era) and the first crewed missions to Mars.

Beyond the inner solar system, there are ambitious plans to send robotic missions to Europa, Titan, and other "Ocean Worlds" that could host exotic life. To accomplish these objectives, NASA is investing in some interesting new technologies through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.

This year's selection includes solar-powered aircraft, bioreactors, lightsails, hibernation technology, astrobiology experiments, and nuclear propulsion technology. This includes a concept for a Thin Film Isotope Nuclear Engine Rocket (TFINER), a proposal by senior technical staff member James Bickford and his colleagues at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory-a Massachusetts-based independent technology developer.

This proposal relies on the decay of radioactive isotopes to generate propulsion and was recently selected by the NIAC for Phase I development.

As their proposal paper indicates, advanced propulsion is essential to realizing several next-generation mission concepts. These include sending a telescope to the focal point of the sun's gravitational lens and a rendezvous with a passing interstellar object. These mission concepts require rapid velocities that are simply not possible with conventional rocketry.

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