Russia develops a nuclear power engine that takes people to Mars for 45 days

By using nuclear energy to operate the spaceship, Russian scientists believe that it is possible to shorten the journey to Mars to 45 days, much faster than the previous plan of 18. month. Tests are expected to begin in 2018 and, if successful, will not only make Mars missions easier, but also a revolution in the future of aerospace.

According to the idea proposed earlier based on feasible technologies, NASA believes that the mission to bring people to Mars will be deployed in the 2030s and that is a one-way transfer, without round-trip tickets by gender. fuel term and support products are not enough to meet the return. In other words, the first people on Mars will live the rest of their lives on it. Previous estimates suggest that the trip will last for about 18 months and therefore the traveling fees can face the risk of exposure, exposure to radiation on the way.

In an effort to find a solution to shorten the journey time to Mars, there have been many recent and most recent approaches, Russian scientists say could use nuclear power engines. Although this is a big and daring idea, in fact it is not so new: both Russia and the United States have developed such systems from the Cold War in the 1960s to the present. However, most efforts are focused on serving satellite technology rather than developing a means to get people to Mars and return.

Picture 1 of Russia develops a nuclear power engine that takes people to Mars for 45 days
Rorsat - one of 30 samples of nuclear energy engine satellites developed by the Soviet Union.

According to Nikolai Sokov, senior expert at the James Martin Center in California, one of the biggest drawbacks is the cost: " Nuclear devices are not impossible or too complicated. The problem is to design spacecraft of this type is very costly. 'Russia's Rosatom Nuclear Energy Group, on the other hand, has yet to disclose details of its practices, but some speculate that they may use antipathy Fission, utilize heat from the process of splitting atoms to burn hydrogen or other liquefied gases, thereby providing the kinetic energy for the spacecraft.

This approach is similar to a chemical fuel propulsion engine that uses an oxidizing compound to burn fuel to operate the engine. The biggest difference, however, is that the fuel-propulsion engine takes a lot of fuel , making the whole ship very crutches. Meanwhile, the nuclear engine can solve this problem. Even so, creating a motive for nuclear energy is not a simple thing and if Russia succeeds, it will not only help Mars missions be more feasible but also improve the technology to bring satellites to orbit, even expanding the way to clean up garbage on the universe.

Rosatom experts said " a vehicle equipped with a nuclear engine is expected to have three times the power of similar spacecraft. The designs we are developing will allow humanity. creating spacecraft that can solve the challenges of the aerospace industry in the 21st century. "It is known that the prototype of this engine will be tested in 2018 if Rosatom receives investment 700 million dollars, a figure they consider to be surprisingly cheap for a project nearly 15 years.