Does anyone know if any of the ideas to use nuclear power directly to power a space craft are being looked at on any serious level? There is the Americium powered rocket that uses direct fission of the element americium to support a continuos nuclear explosion/reaction to propel the space craft and the saltwater nuclear rocket which uses a solution of uranium 235 salts to support a continuos nuclear explosion. Does anyone know of any other direct type nuclear propulsion besides the Orion type space ships? An aneutronic reaction powered spaceship would also be a great idea due to the smaller amount of shielding it would need. I have read about these things over the years but even though they seem like great ideas no one either refutes them or supports them.
That is going on right now. There is more and more NAVY involvment in these issues. The war is now between nuclear electric and nuclear thermal. Thermal had been losing--but that seems to be changing. Nuclear thermal can be used generate power. Stan Borowski at Nasa Lewis can tell you more. Or Steve Howe at Los Alamos, I believe.
Now I am looking more carefully at the concepts proposed by Stan Borowski and Steve Howe, and I am not fully satisfyed .
Because the question, if I understand it correctly, was: are there investigations of DIRECT use of nuclear power for propulsion, as in the Orion concept. But what these guys are proposing is to use nuclear heat to accelerate another propellant for the propulsion. I would like to know if there are project that imply direct use of nuclar matter both as fuel and propellant. Of course, this means no waste containing, thereby applications possible exclusively in space (and testing difficult on earth) .
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