SpaceX NEW Nuclear Rocket is UNBELIEVABLE!
SpaceX NEW Nuclear Rocket is UNBELIEVABLE!
The visionary creator of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, dreams to bring solar power to the masses, people to Mars, and, maybe, retire there himself. Musk's dream to colonize mars will only come true once the red planet is filled with a considerable amount of manpower and that is only possible with frequent and recurring trips to mars. The vehicle of choice for this mission is the magnificent Starship.
With dreams of Mars on the minds of both NASA and Elon Musk, long-distance crewed missions through space are coming. But you might be surprised to learn that modern rockets do not go all that much faster than the rockets of the past.
Starship, as it is known, is a fully reusable transport system capable of carrying up to a hundred people to the Red Planet. The duration of each trip to Mars would take upwards of nine months. This seems like an insanely huge amount of time to spend in space, an environment that will cause irreparable damage to the human body. The obvious solution to this is to lessen the travel time by increasing the speed of the Starship spacecraft. The starship is powered by its insane Raptor engine which is a reusable methalox staged- combustion engine. Though this engine is an invention on its own, we ask ourselves whether a different power source would make SpaceX's Starship even more efficient? That might just be the case, as in this video we will discuss how a nuclear-powered Starship would shorten the journey to Mars. But before we dive further into this make sure to press the subscribe button and do not forget to hit the bell icon to never miss out on any of our latest space niche videos.
By 2035, NASA wants to land humans on Mars. But reaching the red planet, on average around 140 million miles away, will be a mammoth feat.
Colder than Antarctica and with little to no oxygen, Mars is a hostile environment. The longer it takes astronauts to get there and the longer they stay, the more they are at risk.
That is why scientists are looking at ways to reduce trip time. Seattle-based company Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies (USNC-Tech) has proposed a solution: a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engine that could get humans from Earth to Mars in just three months. Currently, the shortest possible trip for an unmanned spacecraft is seven months, but a crewed mission is expected to take at least nine months.
The Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket will collectively make the voyage to Mars. As it ascends from the launch pad, the combined Starship system will begin to pitch over towards the intended orbit.
When the upper stage separates in space, the Super Heavy rocket will flip over while falling back towards Earth.
As it descends, Super Heavy will deploy steel structures called "grid fins", shaped a bit like potato waffles, from the sides of the booster. These will help steer the rocket stage back towards its launch pad so it can be flown again.
The starship is a chemical rocket which means that it burns chemical fuel to produce the thrust necessary for the flight. Another way to produce this thrust would be the use of a nuclear propulsion system.
Most rockets today are powered by chemical engines. These could get you to Mars, but it would take a long time.
NASA wants to get there faster, mainly to minimize the crew's time in outer space. This would reduce their exposure to space radiation, which can cause health problems including radiation sickness, increased lifetime risk of cancer, central nervous system effects, and degenerative diseases.
It would also decrease the overall risk of the mission. As the longer you're out there, the more time there is for stuff to go wrong.
To date, the longest continuous amount of time a human has spent in space is 437 days. And there is no doubt in the fact that inhibiting Mars would take a lot longer than that.
That is why the space agency is looking to develop nuclear-powered rockets.
The trip must be as fast as possible but going quickly takes fuel. For even the most basic human trip to Mars, it is believed that around a thousand tons of propellant would be necessary.
Nuclear power could allow the mission to be completed with less fuel and in a shorter amount of time. Because of the extra thrust provided by nuclear rocket motors, astronauts would be able to take a shortcut back to Earth by spiraling around the Sun and Venus.
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