#Nasa stands for series#

In 1969, the AEC successfully tested a second-generation NERVA engine, the XE, dozens of times. The first NERVA NRX test was run in September 1964 in Nevada. The Kiwi-B reactors, which dramatically increased the power without increasing the overall size, were tested between 19.Īerojet was simultaneously incorporating one of the Kiwi-B reactor designs into its NERVA NRX (NERVA Reactor Experiment) engine.

#Nasa stands for series#

A series of 300-megawatt Kiwi-A reactors were tested at the Nevada Test Site in 19. The Rocket Systems Area provided resources to conduct basic research on nuclear engine systems and to test hydrogen pumping systems. The AEC worked to develop the reactor for the engine at its facilities in New Mexico and Nevada, and Lewis concentrated its efforts on the vehicle’s liquid-hydrogen system.

The final phase of the program, called Reactor-In-Flight-Test, would be an actual launch test. The next phase, the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA), sought to develop a flyable engine. This was followed by a series of Kiwi reactors built to test nuclear rocket principles in a non-flying nuclear engine. The Rover program began with research on basic reactor and fuel systems. In 1959 NASA replaced the Air Force in this role, and the mission changed from a nuclear missile to a nuclear rocket for long-duration space flight. The nuclear rocket would use fission to heat liquid-hydrogen and expel it as thrust at rates that would supersede those of chemical rockets. The nuclear rocket would be an upper stage not fired until it entered space-reducing the threat of crash-induced contamination on Earth. In 1955 the military partnered with the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to develop reactors for nuclear rockets under Project Rover. Engineers, however, could not overcome issues involving the required shielding for the crew or the fear of radiation at crash sites. In 1945 the military began sponsoring efforts to develop an atomic aircraft. Project Rover and NERVA ProgramsĪfter World War II, engineers became interested in utilizing the massive power of atomic fission for aircraft and missile propulsion. Los Alamos possessed the primary test facilities in Nevada and New Mexico, but NASA’s Lewis Research Center had been involved from the start with both the design of the engine’s reactor and the liquid-hydrogen fuel system, particularly the turbopump which pumped the fuels from the storage tanks to the engine and was the primary tool for restarting the engine in space. The Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications (NERVA) was a joint NASA and Atomic Energy Commission endeavor to develop a nuclear-powered rocket for both long-range missions to Mars and as a possible upper-stage for the Apollo Program. Technicians in a vacuum furnace at Lewis’ Fabrication Shop prepare a Kiwi B-1 nozzle for testing in the B-1 test stand ().