Nuclear propulsion

Nuclear propulsion includes a wide variety of propulsion methods that use some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source. Many military submarines and a growing figure - with crude prices and emission in mind - of large surface ships, especially icebreakers, use nuclear reactors as their power plants (see nuclear marine propulsion for civil use and nuclear navy for naval use). In addition, various types of nuclear propulsion have been proposed, and some of them tested, for spacecraft applications:

• Antimatter catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion
• Bussard ramjet
• Fission-fragment rocket
• Fission sail
• Fusion rocket
• Gas core reactor rocket
• Nuclear electric rocket
• Nuclear photonic rocket
• Nuclear pulse propulsion
• Nuclear salt-water rocket
• Nuclear thermal rocket
• Radioisotope rocket

See also

• Project Pluto, which developed an unmanned cruise missile that used a nuclear powered ramjet for propulsion.
• NERVA - NASA's Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications, a US nuclear thermal rocket programme
• Project Prometheus, NASA development of nuclear propulsion for long-duration spaceflight, begun in 2003
• Project Orion, first engineering design study of nuclear pulse (i.e., atomic explosion) propulsion
• Project Daedalus, 1970s British Interplanetary Society study of a fusion rocket
• Project Longshot, US Naval Academy-NASA nuclear pulse propulsion design
• Ford Nucleon - never realized idea for a nuclear-powered car
• Nuclear aircraft - General Electric's cold war project to build a nuclear powered bomber.

Bibliography

• Bussard, R & DeLauer, R (1958), Nuclear Rocket Propulsion, McGraw-Hill