Perilous
Times
Russia Starts Testing Nuclear-powered Engines for Space
Travel
2012-03-28 22:25:37 Xinhua
Russia has started testing the use of nuclear fuel in space rocket
boosters, according to the organization developing the Skolkovo
Innovation Center, Russia's "Silicon Valley".
"The project has been in full swing, with several types of fuel
being tested," Denis Kovalevich, head of the nuclear technologies
cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation, told Interfax news agency
Wednesday.
The use of nuclear fuel was aimed at inter-planetary travel and
work was on schedule, Kovalevich said.
He said a fully Russian-designed nuclear-powered engine was
expected to be tested in 2014 and should be completely ready in
2017.
Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, which initiated the project, has
allocated some 805 million rubles (about 27 million U.S. dollars)
for the work, Kovalevich said.
He said the nuclear-powered engine was designed to have a
three-year service life with no refuelling and would be used in
space vehicles launched by Russia's Proton and Angara rocket
carriers.