Timber Wind: America’s Return to Nuclear Thermal Rockets
Hello, and welcome to Beyond NERVA! Today, we’re continuing to look at the pebble bed nuclear thermal rocket (check out the most recent blog post on the origins of the PBR nuclear thermal rocket here)! Sorry it took so long to get this out… between the huge amount of time it took just to find […]
Pebblebed NTRs: Solid Fuel, but Different
Hello, and welcome back to Beyond NERVA! Today, we’re going to take a break from the closed cycle gas core nuclear thermal rocket (which I’ve been working on constantly since mid-January) to look at one of the most popular designs in modern NTR history: the pebblebed reactor! This I should have covered between solid and […]
The Nuclear Lightbulb – A Brief Introduction
Hello, and welcome back to Beyond NERVA! Really quickly, I apologize that I haven’t published more recently. Between moving to a different state, job hunting, and the challenges we’re all facing with the current medical situation worldwide, this post is coming out later than I was hoping. I have been continuing to work in the […]
Radiator LNTR: The Last of the Line
Hello, and welcome back to Beyond NERVA! Today, we’re finishing (for now) our in-depth look at liquid fueled nuclear thermal rockets, by looking at the second major type of liquid NTR (LNTR): the radiator-type LNTR. If you’re just joining us, make sure to check out the introduction (available here) and the bubbler post (available here) […]
Liquid Fueled NTRs: An Introduction
Hello, and welcome back to Beyond NERVA! Today we continue our look into advanced NTR fuel types, by diving into an extended look at one of the least covered design types in this field: the liquid fueled NTR (LNTR). This is a complex field, with many challenges unique to the phase state of the fuel, […]
Topaz International part 1: ENISY, the Soviet Years
Hello, and welcome back to Beyond NERVA! Today, we’re going to return to our discussion of fission power plants, and look at a program that was unique in the history of astronuclear engineering: a Soviet-designed and -built reactor design that was purchased and mostly flight-qualified by the US for an American lunar base. This was […]
Dumbo: America’s First Forgotten NTR
Hello, and welcome back to Beyond NERVA! Today, in our first post in the Forgotten Reactors series, we’re going back to the beginnings of astronuclear engineering, and returning to nuclear thermal propulsion as well, looking at one of the reactors that’s had a cult following since the 1950s: the pachydermal rocket known as DUMBO. In […]
SNAP-50: The Last of the SNAP Reactors
Hello, and welcome to Beyond NERVA, for our first blog post of the year! Today, we reach the end of the reactor portion of the SNAP program. A combination of the holidays and personal circumstances prevented me from finishing this post as early as I would have liked to, but it’s finally here! Check the […]
US Astro-nuclear History part 2: SNAP-8, NASA’s Space Station Power Supply
Hello, and welcome back to Beyond NERVA! As some of you may have noticed, the website has moved! Yes, we’re now at beyondnerva.com! I’m working on updating the webpage, and am getting the pieces together for a major website redesign (still a ways off, but lots of the pieces are starting to fall into place) […]
History of US Astronuclear Reactors part 1: SNAP-2 and 10A
Hello, and welcome to Beyond NERVA! Today we’re going to look at the program that birthed the first astronuclear reactor to go into orbit, although the extent of the program far exceeds the flight record of a single launch. Before we get into that, I have a minor administrative announcement that will develop into major […]