Russia has approved funding of Rbs500m (US$16.7m) for research into a future nuclear-powered space rocket, according to reports in the Russian media.
RIA Novosti claims that Rbs430m has been allocated to the Rosatom state nuclear corporation, while…
Russia has approved funding of Rbs500m (US$16.7m) for research into a future nuclear-powered space rocket, according to reports in the Russian media.
RIA Novosti claims that Rbs430m has been allocated to the Rosatom state nuclear corporation, while Rbs70m went to the national space agency Roscosmos.
The relatively small sum indicates that this is most likely funding for preliminary studies into the feasibility of such a project.
Anatoliy Perminov, head of Roscosmos, spoke last year of the possibility of a nuclear space vehicle, but estimated that such a system would cost Rbs 17bn (US$580m).
Though such technology seems fantastical at this point in time, the future of space travel does lie in new propulsion systems, in which nuclear technology is likely to have some role to play.
Perminov has previously theorised on a spacecraft driven by an actual reactor, but the option is also available to use nuclear power as a generator to power ion rocket technology.
