Cheap Astronomy - Dear CA Ep. 137: Space Missions

Hosted by Steve Nerlich.

We are still out there.

Dear Cheap Astronomy – Why do some space missions last so long?

So, we're all familiar with the stories of the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landing with mission lifespans of 90 days, that then went on to rove the surface of Mars for 15 years. And the Voyager probes, launched in 1977, were supposed to have five-year missions, which are now going on 47 years and counting. So, what's going on? Is NASA just crap at predicting mission lifetimes?

 

Dear Cheap Astronomy – How much faster is nuclear thermal propulsion?

The idea behind nuclear thermal propulsion or NTP is that you have a nuclear fission core, which is probably uranium-based. This can generate a lot of heat over long periods and you then feed in a propellant that will expand on heating, for example liquid hydrogen. The expanded gas then shoots out a rocket nozzle and pushes your spacecraft forward on the basis of Newton's actions produce opposite reactions.

 

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