Russia Develops Spaceship With Nuclear Engine 297
Matt_dk writes "The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos has developed a design for a piloted spacecraft powered by a nuclear engine, the head of the agency said on Wednesday. 'The project is aimed at implementing large-scale space exploration programs,' Anatoly Perminov said at a meeting of the commission on the modernization of the Russian economy. He added that the development of Megawatt-class nuclear space power systems (MCNSPS) for manned spacecraft was crucial for Russia if the country wanted to maintain a competitive edge in the space race, including the exploration of the Moon and Mars."
The space race isn't over... (Score:5, Insightful)
They haven't "developed" anything (Score:5, Insightful)
They've drawn up a design.. wooo.. any nuclear engineer can do that - plenty of amateurs too.
Building real hardware is the only way to develop launch technology. Tell me when they've gotten the funding to do some static firing.
Sure Russia may not be able to afford it (Score:5, Insightful)
but the chinese can.
What the US needs to get back into the space race is a good old fashioned nose tweaking.
uhh.. point of order! (Score:5, Insightful)
I would just like to point out that developing a spaceship (The title) is a lot different than designing a spaceship (TFA).
Call me when the headline is true.
Re:The space race isn't over... (Score:4, Insightful)
And what happens if the nuclear part were to separate over the United States and accidentally detonate?
The lead designer of the project will go on trial in Russia for hitting the wrong target - the "oops" was supposed to happen over China (which is much more of a real threat to Russia these days).
Re:They haven't "developed" anything (Score:3, Insightful)
and by "dust it off" you mean embark on a multi-billion dollar technology maturation process right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_readiness_level [wikipedia.org]
you're talking about a TRL-4 engine as if it is almost TRL-7.. each step up the ladder takes funding.. that's why Apollo, and the Manhattan project were such amazing achievements, they went from concept to operational with dozens of different subsystems in an incredibly short period of time - by spending a massive amount of money.
interesting juxtaposition (Score:3, Insightful)
Subject/body of the comment:
Sig:
Is this a "libertarian except for a massive taxpayer-funded space program" sort of thing?
Re:Sure Russia may not be able to afford it (Score:5, Insightful)
"What the US needs to get back into the space race is a good old fashioned nose tweaking."
It doesn't seem to be working on the good ole economy front. China is running massive trade surpluses with the U.S., are taking all our jobs, and are seizing control of many of the world's raw materials. If there were any competitive fire left in America's belly it should have surfaced already. You can't really do another Apollo or compete in another space race when you are running trillion dollar trade and budget deficits, and mired in several pointless wars that are consuming what resources aren't going to health care and social security. During the 60's the US was still flush with economic success in the wake of World War II when the rest of the world had been flattened.
The U.S. is starting to more closely resemble an early version of Great Britain, which having lost its empire in World War II and the pounds status as global reserve currency is now mired in debt and can't even support its vastly diminished military or pay its civil servants.
Re:Isn't this dangerous? (Score:0, Insightful)
No, because the chance of you even breathing one atom of the fallout is so unlikely you are more likely to win the lottery.
Re:The space race isn't over... (Score:3, Insightful)
Dude, someone has to tell people out there that the entire freak'n universe is radio active.
Each single day, more people are killed by automobiles than by falling radio active satellites. I don't see anyone banning cars.
Re:The space race isn't over... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:interesting juxtaposition (Score:2, Insightful)
Funny, I see it as one of the best arguments for a decreased federal budget that I've ever seen.
Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA (Score:2, Insightful)
IT WAS ALWAYS FUNNY
In a "Yakov Smirnov" kind of way. You know. Not at all.