Nuclear salt-water rocket

A nuclear salt-water rocket is a type of rocket designed by Robert Zubrin that would be fueled by water bearing dissolved salts of plutonium or ²³⁵U. These would be stored in tanks that would prevent a critical mass from forming by some combination of geometry or neutron absorption. The rocket would be powered by a nuclear-thermal reaction when the water was injected into a reaction chamber.

Calculations show that this rocket would have both very high thrust and a very high specific impulse, a rare combination of traits in the rocket world.

See also: spacecraft propulsion

External link

Nuke Your Way to the Stars (http://www.npl.washington.edu/AV/altvw56.html)

References:

• R. Zubrin, "Nuclear Salt Water Rockets: High Thrust at 10,000 sec ISP", Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 44, 371-376 (1991)