Russia plans nuclear propulsion to reach Jupiter by 2030 – Science – Life

It is the first project of its kind that has been undertaken since Russia. The goal is to design a spacecraft capable of generating enough power to propel heavy cargo through space. A plant of nuclear energy mobile.

(You may be interested: ESA prepares a new mission to Venus from 2030)

“Together with the Russian Academy of Sciences we are doing the ballistics and payload calculations for this flight,” said Alexander Bloshenko, executive director of science and long-term programs at Roscosmos, Russia’s federal space agency, adding that the first flight is scheduled for 2030.

The plans are for the tugboat they design to get close to the Moon first, where a spacecraft will separate from him. After that you will head to Venus to perform a gravity assist maneuver and deliver another spacecraft. It will then depart for Jupiter and one of its satellites, as detailed in the report by the Russian news agency, Tass.

(Also: NASA investigates huge explosion never before seen in the Sun).

The trip would last a total of 50 months (about four years). The interest of several countries is in the development of similar technology to shorten the time it would take for expeditions to space, since currently ships depend on solar energy or gravity to accelerate, which means, for example, more than three years to get to and from Mars, a time that NASA estimates could be shortened by a year with a nuclear powered vehicle.

As reported by Tass, last December Roscosmos and the Arsenal design office signed a contract to develop a preliminary project for a Nuklon nuclear-powered space tug, to be used in deep space missions.

(Continue reading: The images left by the annular eclipse in the northern hemisphere).

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