Earth To Mars In TWo Weeks.(design of americium-fueled nuclear rocket)(Brief Article)

From: Popular Mechanics | Date: March 1, 2001 | Copyright information

A new type of nuclear rocket could reduce the current six- to eight-month trip to Mars to under two weeks.

Unlike American nuclear rockets of the 1960s that used uranium and plutonium fuels, the new engine would be powered by a form of the element americium (Am-242), says its designer, Yigal Ronen of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.

The advantage of Am-242 is that it allows nuclear fission to be sustained in a film less than a millimeter ...

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