Rolls-Royce and UK Space Agency team up to develop nuclear-powered spacecraft engine that could take us to Mars in just three months
- The companies will explore the potential of nuclear energy as an energy source
- A nuclear-powered spacecraft engine could halve travel time to Mars
- They could also reduce astronauts’ radiation dose
British aero engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has entered an unlikely alliance with the UK Space Agency to develop engines for nuclear-powered spacecraft.
Through the collaboration, the two organizations will work together to explore the potential of nuclear power as an energy source for future expeditions to deep space.
If successful, a nuclear spacecraft could reduce travel time to Mars to as little as three to four months – about half the time possible with today’s chemical engines.
In addition, the shorter travel times would mean that astronauts aboard the spacecraft would be exposed to less radiation in flight, making future journeys to Mars or other planets safer.
If successful, a nuclear-powered spacecraft engine can reduce travel time to Mars to as little as three to four months – about half the time possible with current systems
Nuclear propulsion has previously been described by NASA as a “breakthrough technology for deep space exploration.”
It involves channeling the energy released from splitting the atom to accelerate propellants at tremendous speed.
Rolls-Royce and the UK Space Agency predict that this type of engine could be twice as efficient as the chemical engines currently used to power rockets, cutting travel time in half.
Dr. Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said: ‘Nuclear power and space propulsion is a groundbreaking concept that could unlock future deep-space missions that take us to Mars and beyond.
“This study will help us understand the exciting potential of nuclear-powered spacecraft, and whether this nascent technology could help us travel further and faster through space than ever before.”
A nuclear-powered engine can also make deep space travel safer for astronauts.
With travel time cut in half, astronauts would be exposed to a lower dose of radiation, which could protect them from both radiation sickness and cancer.
Rolls-Royce and the UK Space Agency predict that this kind of engine could be twice as efficient as the chemical engines currently used to power rockets, cutting travel time in half.
“Space radiation can put astronauts at significant risk of radiation sickness and an increased lifelong risk of cancer, central nervous system effects and degenerative diseases,” NASA explains.
Dave Gordon, Senior Vice President UK, Rolls-Royce Defense said: ‘We are delighted to work with the UK Space Agency on this groundbreaking project to define future nuclear energy technologies for space.
‘We believe there is a real niche capability in the UK in this area and this initiative can build on the strong UK nuclear network and supply chain.
“We look forward to developing these and other exciting space projects in the future as we continue to develop the power to protect our planet, secure our world and explore our universe.”
The idea of a nuclear-powered spacecraft engine is not new.
NASA launched a program to develop a nuclear-powered engine in 1961, though the program was discontinued in 1972 due to space budget cuts.
Now, more than 45 years later, NASA is once again working on a Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system.
“We are working on a first-generation NTP system with great growth potential,” said Doyce “Sonny” Mitchell, manager of the NTP project at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.
Nasa’s timeline for the project remains unclear.
NASA plans to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s after the first landing on the moon
Mars has become mankind’s next giant leap for space exploration.
But before humans reach the red planet, astronauts will take a series of baby steps by returning to the moon for a year-long mission.
Details of the orbiting mission have been revealed as part of a timeline of events leading up to missions to Mars in the 2030s.
NASA has outlined its four-phase plan (pictured) that it hopes will one day allow humans to visit Mars at the Humans to Mars Summit held yesterday in Washington DC. This will involve multiple missions to the moon over the coming decades
In May 2017, Greg Williams, deputy assistant administrator for policies and plans at NASA, outlined the space agency’s four-step plan that it hopes will one day allow humans to visit Mars, as well as its anticipated timetable.
Phase one and two will involve multiple trips to lunar space, to allow for the construction of a habitat that will be a gathering place for the trip.
The final piece of hardware provided would be the actual Deep Space Transport vehicle that would later be used to transport a crew to Mars.
And in 2027, a year-long simulation of life on Mars will take place.
Phases three and four will begin after 2030 and include long-term crew expeditions to the Martian system and the surface of Mars.