Nuclear Propulsion From Earth to Mars in Just 45 Days

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[donrimel]

I love how this video started with rail travel 160 years ago. I remember talking to my Great Grandmother about her life being alive before the first flight of the Wright Brothers and seeing man walk on the moon during her lifetime.

[trespire]

Check out the steam engine at 0:45. Notice the two closest tracks with a water trough running through their center.
Some engines had a water scoop, used for refuling (steam uses water) while still traveling at speed.
No need to stop divert and under a water tower to refill, trains would run to a tighter schedual.

[csdn]

Fun fact - the NERVA test engines were called Kiwis because they were flightless birds. (Source - one of my professors in college actually worked on NERVA, had some interesting stories including the destruction test to see just what the maximum power output was -- no, didn't explode, however, it did shake itself apart as fuel rods were being spit out the nozzle).

[slipkid]

I was just 5 years old when we first landed on the moon and the thought of possibly still being alive to witness the dawn of the era of routine interplanetary travel makes me very happy! What a time to be alive

[randycampbell]

Just to be clear the "bimodal" isn't the NTR/NEP but the modes of the reactor itself. Since it can be both a rocket thruster (NTR mode) and also a power reactor (which then powers the NEP mode) it is known as a "bimodal reactor". The "fun" part here is that by adding a liquid oxygen injector system to the NTR mode you can greatly increase the thrust of the NTR which has benefits for short length/high trust segments of the voyage. This then turns it into a TRI-modal power plant. (Might want to check out the "Triton NTR" concept)

[Wendallpie]

Favorite Mega Project to date. As a Rocket Scientist, I declare kudos for phenomenal blazer performance AND an incredibly well researched video.

[WildMotoCamper]

what a time to be alive...45 days to mars awhile we're still killing eachother because we can't get along.. lol

[Star_Jewel_Realm]

Interesting intro.When I was four years old I travelled with my family to visit my grandmother's home village. We travelled on a train for six hours. I was fascinated by the mountains and the seemingly long tunnel in it. 😊Now we might have the technology to travel to Mars within 45 days. However there are numerous obstacles we must solve before we even reach escape velocity. We will need to control the process with accuracy. 🤔🚀 To Mars or bust. We gotta trust. There is a new land out there... 😅

[StitchesLovesRats]

Fellow brit here. It's not "jackarse", it's "jackass". The "ass" part refers to a donkey or mule.

[lazarusblackwell]

Finally some real progress on the space propulsion tech.

[hellstromcarbunkle]

My personal preference is the nuclear plasma thermal engine, with fissionable plutonium finely divided, stored in neutron damped storage, and pumped out into the nozzle with duterium, fissioning in place thanks to magnetic confinement, and bathing the plasma in a 1H gas which then becomes a 23, 000 deg. C plasma also confined with near "c" exhaust speed.

[BrianOxleyTexan]

Btw, your sponsor spots are really good. It isn't you winking at viewers but pitching without irony. YT videos need commercials to pay for them so that everyone involved gets an income. I appreciate that you obviously pitch while great content goes on around; it keeps me watching.

The pull for me is that you keep picking great topics.

[ns]

Movie-universe NASA spends over half its budget dealing with Matt Damon's space shenanigans.

[Beryllahawk]

Love this! Really hoping that the bimodal system gets chosen and not only works, but works SPECTACULARLY well. The NERVA research - or maybe I should say, research related to nuclear engines - came back more than once between 1973 and 2003. The rocket scientists have done their best not to let this one go!

[galactus]

I love how there was an ad just after he said, "Wait for it, " perfect timing!

[GanymedeOcean]

Thank you for covering this concept! Love seeing nuclear engines getting wider coverage.
You should look into the wonderfully awesome idea of a Nuclear Salt Water Rocket or NSWR. A idea that could provide high thrust and high efficiency. Basically the closest we could (in theory) built today that would match the engines in The Expanse!

[eightfive]

The Space Shuttle probably set back overall space exploration in hindsight, but it was the single greatest advertisement for the space program, that thing was sexy. Great video! Thank you!

[BrokenCurtain]

Forget about Mars.

Let's get to the asteroid belt and use the material there to build 100 million O'Neill cylinders.

Then we can let those slowly drift to the Kuiper belt and build a billion more.

[CartoonHero]

LMAO at the intro. Simon starts talking about going West in the 19th century before the railroads and I'm like "will they make a Donner Party joke" and you made a Donner Party joke! Love it!

[Renshen]

This idea was conceived, tested, found practical in the late1950’s and into 1960’s as the Nuclear Impulse rocket, which was referenced in TOS Star Trek Impulse Power, and where to be used as Space Tugs to Mars. With the end of manned missions into space, and going to Mars, the already developed NEVA project was shelved.