The world is currently on the verge of embracing another level of space exploration. Rolls-Royce is one of the companies working on innovative technologies to reach distant space worlds in both crewed and uncrewed space missions. The company recently revealed a new micro-reactor design for deep space exploration. What did Roll’s Royce hope to accomplish with this fascinating technology? Continue reading to find out.
What Rolls-Royce hopes to accomplish with its new micro-reactor design
On January 27, Rolls-Royce shared the fascinating image of its new micro-reactor design on Twitter with this caption;
“A Rolls-Royce Micro-Reactor is designed to use an inherently safe and extremely robust fuel form. Each uranium particle is encapsulated in multiple protective layers that act as a containment system, allowing it to withstand extreme conditions.”
The engineering firm is known for its awesome technological innovations on Earth. But Rolls-Royce is now working toward creating awesome technologies that will boost space explorations and help businesses in the future when interplanetary trade will officially commence.
The company is designing the nuclear fission system as part of its agreement with the UK Space Agency in 2021. Space Agencies are aware that Nuclear Propulsion systems are the future of deep space exploration. Hence, they are working on replacing chemical propulsion with nuclear propulsion systems for advanced space exploration.
But how do these nuclear propulsion systems operate? They work by harnessing the energy emitted during the splitting of atoms. The nuclear propulsion system then deploys this energy to increase the acceleration of the spacecraft and lower transit times. As we look forward to sending humans to Mars, space agencies are seriously researching nuclear propulsion systems as they could be of great importance to reaching Mars faster.
What You Should Know About Rolls-Royce’s new space micro-nuclear reactor
In 2021, Rolls-Royce signed an agreement with the UK Space Agency to experiment with nuclear propulsion technologies for deep space exploration. The known engineering firm has recently commenced implementing its part of the agreement. The fascinating image lately released by Roll-Royce only details an early-stage design of the micro-nuclear reactor. Hence, the company will still have a lot of work to put in place for the completion of this project.
“Each uranium particle is encapsulated in multiple protective layers that act as a containment system, allowing it to withstand extreme conditions,” Rolls-Royce wrote describing the image of its micro-nuclear reactor design.
Rolls-Royce is known for its role in creating fascinating technologies. As the company joins other firms in building awesome space technologies, we expect to see them create iconic inventions that will take humans to Moon, Mars, and beyond in the future.
Other Efforts to Develop Nuclear Propulsion Systems for Deep Space Exploration
Our dependence on the Chemical propulsion system is limiting our ability to explore space the way we always wanted to. Hence, when Scientists discovered the potential of nuclear fission for deep space exploration, they began to work on how to bring such an innovation into a reality.
The Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) concept was one of the first successfully tested nuclear propulsion in the 20th century. However, the US Space Agency could not proceed with its plan of reaching deep space with this sophisticated technology as the program was later defunded in 1973.
However, our view about nuclear propulsion is recently changing in the 21st century. Recently, NASA and DARPA announced their partnership in building a functioning nuclear thermal rocket by 2027. The good news is that the US Space Agency is also making another effort for the design of nuclear propulsion systems.
American Space Agency lately selected a nuclear propulsion concept to undergo Phase I development as of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program for 2023. The outcome of these futuristic projects will determine how fast humans will progress in reaching Mars and beyond in the future.
Conclusion
Rolls-Royce wants to change the concept of exploring space with its new space micro-nuclear reactor. The iconic engineering company is hoping to accomplish great success from this project. We should wish the scientists and engineers working on this particular project great success as they embark on recording tremendous success from this project. What do you think about this new engineering concept?
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