Click to open image viewer. Shown here is a one-eighth scale model of the NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application) nuclear rocket test engine on a movable stand equipped with rails.

I’ve grown up with rockets that burn chemical fuel, but NASA’s next big leap in propulsion could make those engines look as dated as steam trains. By turning to nuclear power in space, the agency is ...

UK space propulsion company Pulsar Fusion has conducted the first test of a prototype exhaust system for a nuclear fusion rocket engine that could dramatically cut transit times for missions to Mars ...

UK-based Pulsar Fusion announced it has successfully achieved first plasma in its Sunbird nuclear fusion rocket exhaust system. The demonstration, a world’s first for a rocket of this type, was ...

Engineers from Ohio State University are developing a new way to power rocket engines, using liquid uranium for a faster, more efficient form of nuclear propulsion that could deliver round trips to ...

Space propulsion company Pulsar Fusion has achieved “first plasma” in its Sunbird nuclear fusion rocket, designed to propel rockets faster than any object has ever traveled. Reading time 2 minutes ...

Introduction -- Rocket engine fundamentals -- Nuclear rocket engine cycles -- Interplanetary mission analysis -- Basic nuclear structure and processes -- Neutron flux energy distribution -- Neutron ...

Jim Bickford is leading the Thin Film Isotope Nuclear Engine Rocket (TFINER) project to develop a system for propelling a craft through space faster and farther than ever before. This technology has ...