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Article: Earth To Mars In TWo Weeks.(design of americium-fueled nuclear rocket)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Popular Mechanics
- Article date:
- March 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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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 ...