NASA planning nuclear powered rockets for Mars mission?

[Braznor]

Article from Gizmodo and a nice one at that. But the questions, is it just hype from Gizmodo or is NASA really going to do it? I certainly wish so. The article also has a fascinating compilation of facts and pictures of the earlier trials with nuclear powered rocket engines.

http://gizmodo.com/5992441/how-nasas-nuclear-rockets-will-take-us-way-beyond-mars

 

[Rifter]

Seems dangerous if something ever went wrong you would have no way to escape a reactor breach. But it would defiantly save on weight if the people we sent over there glowed in the dark, no need for flashlights or batteries for them

 

[randomrogue]

When they launched Casini people freaked out. I'm pretty sure that they've been using nuclear power since at least Voyager though. The idea of nuclear powered rockets sounds interesting though.

 

[wirednuts]

well the nuclear power they've been using is hardly dangerous. its just radioactive material in a jar basically, that heats up thermoelectric couplers... its actually a very inefficient way to make electricity, but the fuel lasts years so they can be wasteful with it.

nuclear rockets would be an entirely different animal, and I know they haven't used anything like that yet.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I thought our government was in debt/have no money.

Why in the world are we wasting our future children's money on such programs?

 

[Red Storm]

I thought our government was in debt/have no money.

Why in the world are we wasting our future children's money on such programs?

There are tons of other government waste programs that I would cut before space exploration.

 

[Vdubchaos]

There are tons of other government waste programs that I would cut before space exploration.

Not arguing that.

Meanwhile, we can't afford NEITHER.

 

[darkxshade]

Seems dangerous if something ever went wrong you would have no way to escape a reactor breach. But it would defiantly save on weight if the people we sent over there glowed in the dark, no need for flashlights or batteries for them

Build it with 2 reactors and in the event of a breach, dump the warp core... er I mean the nuclear reactor.

 

[TechAZ]

I thought our government was in debt/have no money.

Why in the world are we wasting our future children's money on such programs?

I would rather the gov't spend money on space exploration than welfare tbh. I'll be more than a little bummed out if I die and Mars is the furthest out we send humans. Our best hope is an alien species shows up and teaches us or gives us technology to travel at the speed of light.

If we solely focus on our "future children's money" and getting by day to day rather than space exploration and the technology it would take to get us further out and byproduct science that would help us here on Earth, then I think that in itself is a disservice to humankind.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I would rather the gov't spend money on space exploration than welfare tbh. I'll be more than a little bummed out if I die and Mars is the furthest out we send humans. Our best hope is an alien species shows up and teaches us or gives us technology to travel at the speed of light.

a) we can't afford neither
b) you really believe we will actually try to communicate with other species rather than start some kind of dick waving war? We can't even take care of EACH OTHER right now.

If we solely focus on our "future children's money" and getting by day to day rather than space exploration and the technology it would take to get us further out and byproduct science that would help us here on Earth, then I think that in itself is a disservice to humankind.

Nothing can help us when we don't want to help ourselves.



You are WAY too arrogant about human kind.

There is no "I would rather". America SIMPLY cannot afford it.

PERIOD

Also "nuclear" sounds EXPENSIVE

 

[Aikouka]

Vdub, have you submitted your petition to an admin to have your name changed to MajorBuzzkill yet?

 

[Paul98]

Sounds interesting, I would like to know how it stacks up to other rockets we have used and compared to other experimental rockets. Though this one we already know would be workable because of all the tests done in the past.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Vdub, have you submitted your petition to an admin to have your name changed to MajorBuzzkill yet?

I will, as long as you change your name to "ignorerealityeventhoughitsrightinyourface"

 

[destrekor]

a) we can't afford neither
b) you really believe we will actually try to communicate with other species rather than start some kind of dick waving war? We can't even take care of EACH OTHER right now.



Nothing can help us when we don't want to help ourselves.



You are WAY too arrogant about human kind.

There is no "I would rather". America SIMPLY cannot afford it.

PERIOD

Also "nuclear" sounds EXPENSIVE

There's this thing called debt and foreign financing/loan backing/underwriting/crazy shit that happens with money at the Sovereign State level...

If we are going to continue to spend money (hint: we are), and if we are going to continue to dig our financial hole deeper (hint: we are), we might as well do some good with it.

There's no ifs ands or buts - they are going to cut spending on some things, and spend some more on other things. For some things, it would be better to go into austerity measures and stop digging ourselves a deeper money pit.
Whether or not we do ever go full austerity - money will still be allocated and spent for various things.
Science R&D, through every Federal program, is one of the smallest portions of Federal expenses to be accounted for. They routinely cut scientific funding, NASA gets barely anything from the Federal pie, and yet they can continue doing R&D on a limited scale.
Shuffling all scientific R&D priorities to a specific mission wouldn't be a big deal, and dedicating a little more money to allow something like this to have a chance is EXACTLY the kind of thing we need to be doing at this point in time.

It's part of the "gambling and sacrificing today, for a better tomorrow" approach, something we all do very little, including our government... and we really need them to step it up and plan for tomorrow. Spending on science is NOT a waste, even if it means expanding our debt. Why? Because the knowledge and financial rewards that can come from it in the future, outweigh the sacrifices we have to make today.

Faster and safer travel both on land, in air, in LEO, and to the distant regions of local space? YES - big money maker for a lot of people, AND a huge step for our species with plenty of other rewards to reap. The more we can learn through projects like this, and through other scientific/astronomical endeavors, the better.

 

[Six]

I thought our government was in debt/have no money.

Why in the world are we wasting our future children's money on such programs?

Because for every dollar spent on NASA, we get at least $2-3 back...and maybe as high as $14 back.

 

[Midwayman]

I would rather the gov't spend money on space exploration than welfare tbh. .

We should just send people on welfare into space. Problem solved.

 

[Red Storm]

We should just send people on welfare into space. Problem solved.

:hmm:

Then sign me up for welfare.

 

[MaxPayne63]

Hopefully the first aliens we meet don't have a word for ponzi scheme. We, I mean Goldman Sachs, will own half their planet before you can say "come in peace."