First mission to bring back samples from the moon since 1976 started successfully

[SvennoJ]

Nighthawk117 said:

SvennoJ said:

All the more reason to speed up transition to a hydrogen fuel cell economy :)
Nuclear fusion to get to Mars would work as well.

Nasa might not use fossil fuels to fly (SpaceX does), yet a whole lot of energy goes into making the liquid hydrogen. Nuclear fusion is the future, yet we hardly ever hear anything about it. How are those test plants doing in France and India.

Yes, you are right that SpaceX does use fossil fuel to power its Falcon 9 rocket - it's called RP-1, and it's a highly refined form of kerosene.

A nuclear fission rocket engine will be available sooner than a nuclear fusion engine.  Nuclear fission has been around since the 40s, nuclear fusion, on the other hand, still does not exist.  The ITER reactor being built in Cadarache, France won't achieve first plasma until Dec. 2025. But, that thing is awesome!

True, submarines have been nuclear powered since 1955. There must be a reason NASA hasn't jumped on that ship yet. Maybe it's all a PR problem or all the shaking during launch isn't very good for nuclear engines.

Ah I see they just got back on track. Scrapped in 1970, $125 million granted in 2019 to continue with the nuclear rocket program. Nice.