{"title":"Nuclear thermal propulsion – Progress and potential","authors":"Dale Thomas","doi":"10.1016/j.jsse.2024.04.001","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper describes the current research and development efforts currently underway within the United States on Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP), with a particular focus on the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) project, a joint effort of the United States Defense Advanced Projects Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. However, to put the DRACO project into context, the prior United States’ prior efforts on NTR are described and the foundation those efforts provided to enable DRACO. The impact of NTP propulsion on both human and scientific exploration of the Solar System will also be discussed. And finally, the topic of advanced NTP propulsion will be addressed, including liquid fuel NTP engines.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468896724000478","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper describes the current research and development efforts currently underway within the United States on Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP), with a particular focus on the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) project, a joint effort of the United States Defense Advanced Projects Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. However, to put the DRACO project into context, the prior United States’ prior efforts on NTR are described and the foundation those efforts provided to enable DRACO. The impact of NTP propulsion on both human and scientific exploration of the Solar System will also be discussed. And finally, the topic of advanced NTP propulsion will be addressed, including liquid fuel NTP engines.
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.