He discusses the Los Alamos history of development of a nuclear rocket engine for space travel with the Rover Kiwi program. Pictures of Los Alamos scientists at work make the show great PR for the Laboratory. Rocket fuel limitations in the Kiwi engines constrained their effectiveness for manned space missions. Steve explains why development of a gas core nuclear rocket engine for Mars travel would be significantly better.
Specific impulse is expressed in units of seconds.
We think the space shuttle is fast. Feasibility of the gas core nuclear engine can only be assessed with the kind of expertise resident in Los Alamos. Les Thode, XDO, Barbara DeVolder, XPA, and Dave Zerkle, CST-6, have made remarkable progress in assessing this feasibility. This TV show is not the first for Steve. The public cannot seem to understand how much testing has been done to make RTG safe.