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Experts at an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) webinar “Atoms for Space: Nuclear Systems for Space Exploration”, agreed that nuclear technology will continue to play a vital role in future space missions. More than 500 people from 66 countries attended the webinar on 15 and 16 February. Experts from the public and private sectors concluded that humanity is poised to embark on a new age of space travel to Mars, our solar system and beyond as nuclear power and related technologies promise to make interplanetary missions faster, more efficient and economical.
- Source: NEI Magazine
- Date: Thursday, 24 February 2022
- Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsiaea-says-nuclear-is-vital-for-space-missions-9503585
Future space missions could have new options opened up by nuclear technology, experts attending an International Atomic Energy Agency event have said.
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Nuclear-power-in-space-is-focus-of-IAEA-and-UN-eve
The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract to Belgian company Tractebel to evaluate the possibility of producing plutonium-238 (Pu-238) for use in space exploration. Separately, US company X-energy, working as part of a General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) team, is to develop key fuel fabrication processes in support of a first-of-a-kind rocket powered by nuclear thermal propulsion under a contract awarded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Thursday, 02 September 2021
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/European-and-US-nuclear-companies-contribute-to-sp
A new publication by the US Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, “Space Nuclear Propulsion for Human Mars Exploration (2021)” seeks to identify primary technical and programmatic challenges, merits, and risks for maturing space nuclear propulsion technologies of interest to a future human Mars exploration mission. The study, undertaken by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Technologies Committee, was sponsored by NASA.
- Source: NEI Magazine
- Date: Friday, 19 February 2021
- Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsus-report-looks-at-space-nuclear-propulsion-for-mars-exploration-8532029
On 21 July, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon. During the brief few hours he and Buzz Aldrin spent on the surface they deployed a suite of scientific experiments, some of which would depend on radioisotope heaters to protect them from the harsh lunar night. Dr Jonathan Cobb, senior communication manager at World Nuclear Association, describes nuclear technology's role in the historic event.
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Thursday, 18 July 2019
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Nuclears-small-role-in-humanitys-biggest-adventu
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded BWXT Nuclear Energy a $18.8 million contract to initiate conceptual designs for a nuclear thermal propulsion reactor in support of a possible future manned mission to Mars. BWXT Nuclear Energy is a subsidiary of nuclear components, fuel and services provider BWX Technologies, which is based in Lynchburg, Virginia.
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Friday, 04 August 2017
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/NASA-boosts-nuclear-thermal-propulsion-with BWXT-c
Space travel to Mars and beyond may only be possible through the use of nuclear rocket technology, NASA suggests. Such spacecraft would be much faster than conventional craft, cutting the length of the mission and thereby reducing radiation exposure to astronauts.
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Friday, 31 May 2013
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Nuclear-rocket-puts-Mars-within-reach