NASA program planning on nuclear electric propulsionAs part of the focused technology planning for future NASA space science and exploration missions, NASA has initiated a focused technology program to develop the technologies for nuclear electric propulsion and nuclear thermal propulsion. Beginning in 1990, NASA began a series of interagency planning workshops and meetings to identify key technologies and program priorities for nuclear propulsion. The high-priority, near-term technologies that must be developed to make NEP operational for space exploration include scaling thrusters to higher power, developing high-temperature power processing units, and developing high power, low-mass, long-lived nuclear reactors.
Document ID
19920056027
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Bennett, Gary L. (NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Miller, Thomas J. (NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)