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The article covers many of the issues.
Safety isn't too big a concern if they launch from florida. A breakup would likely occur over the ocean (though it could occur over the launching pad
). Although Africa could possible be hit.
I really don't know much about space propulsion. I know a little about ion engines. But they use the term electric propulsion. I have no idea what that is.
You can forgo many safety features of a naval nuclear reactor. But then again, you don't want it to fail and the mission to be a failure. You can forgo some shielding, but the electronic equipment is going to need shielding for sure.
As for small nuclear reactors, I would like to add that they do have experience in smaller reactors. Most people assume boomers and attack subs are the smallest, but I had an instructor who served on the deep submergence vehicle (it's actually called nuclear research NR-1). He didn't tell us much about them, probably because they are highly classified. But he did describe the size of the nuclear reactor. But even that is probably too large for a spacecraft. http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/.../ship-nr1.html
Safety isn't too big a concern if they launch from florida. A breakup would likely occur over the ocean (though it could occur over the launching pad
). Although Africa could possible be hit. I really don't know much about space propulsion. I know a little about ion engines. But they use the term electric propulsion. I have no idea what that is.
You can forgo many safety features of a naval nuclear reactor. But then again, you don't want it to fail and the mission to be a failure. You can forgo some shielding, but the electronic equipment is going to need shielding for sure.
As for small nuclear reactors, I would like to add that they do have experience in smaller reactors. Most people assume boomers and attack subs are the smallest, but I had an instructor who served on the deep submergence vehicle (it's actually called nuclear research NR-1). He didn't tell us much about them, probably because they are highly classified. But he did describe the size of the nuclear reactor. But even that is probably too large for a spacecraft. http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/.../ship-nr1.html
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