Feb 022010
A large format drawing of an unmanned inter-orbital shuttle, using a NERVA engine and launched atop a Saturn V/INT-21 launch vehicle (with the NERVA possibly carried within the cargo bay of a Space Shuttle). Other companies designed their own versions, but NAR’s design was by far the longest and pointiest. The NERVA engine was designed to be removable and replaceable, with servicing again done in a Shuttle cargo bay. Yeeeeesh.
2 Responses to “Reusable Nuclear Shuttle – North American Rockwell, 1971”
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The problem with the servicing idea was that after the first use of the engine you didn’t dare approach from any side except the front due to the radioactivity.
http://beyondapollo.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-july-1969-as-apollo-11-brought.html
[…] to later nuclear stages, the S-N stage was remarkably short in length. Long stage lengths were useful to reduce the […]