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Dave and everybody,
I've been spending a lot of time lately
looking at the nuclear rocket program at NTS (for another reason, granted), but
allow me to set this record straight.
There was at least one failure, as noted,
but this was actually a failure of instrumentation and not the rocket
itself. It seems that the instruments monitoring the level of hydrogen in
the storage tanks failed, and the tanks ran dry unexpectedly. (The
hydrogen was both coolant and propellant.) As a result, the rocket ran out
of coolant and overheated. However, the NERVA program was actually quite
successful in their efforts to build a nuclear rocket engine, and there were
several designs and many tests that demonstrated that success. They
even had one test go for 28 starts and shutdowns, and operated for over 4
hours.
It was really a matter of politics that
doomed the program - this work was going on during the Apollo days, and at the
end of Apollo NASA did not have firm political support to continue with manned
planetary missions. Therefore, chemical rockets were adequate and there
was no need to continue developments on the NERVA systems.
For a good recent review, check out the
December, 2002, Nuclear News interview with Harold Finger, the first joint
AEC-NASA Space Nuclear Propulsion Office Director. There are also other
articles in that edition that discuss new space reactor concepts. There
has been renewed interest in the program, so perhaps we may see another one
built.
Doug Minnema, PhD, CHP
National Nuclear Security Administration, US
DOE
what few thoughts i have are truly my
own...
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