The nuclear‐powered rocket feasible?
MAY 01, 1949
Space ships are not around the corner. The chief of the applied physics division of the jet propulsion laboratory at the California Institute of Technology treats here current problems in conventional rocketry and the possibilities of powering rockets with nuclear energy. The conclusions, he finds, are somewhat “melancholy.”
DOI: 10.1063/1.3066528
It seems but natural for physicists to ponder on the dramatic possibilities of using nuclear power to operate a rocket propulsion plant. It is possible, without trespassing on classified information in any way, to reach some interesting and perhaps melancholy conclusions, merely by the use of elementary and well‐disseminated ideas.
This article is only available in PDF format
More about the authors
H. S. Seifert, California Institute of Technology.
© 1949 American Institute of Physics
