Beyond NERVA

Whilst we await the neutron-safe fusion NERVA, we're still tinkering with fissile propulsion. The name of the game is: Low Enrichment. Because no terrestrial entity wants a bomb in low-orbit.

ProjectRho is linking to one such proposal - from 2019 - called the "INsTAR". UltraSafe hyped a LEU last year, U for "uranium". I guess UltraSafe's tack... worked, alongside the coming SuperHeavy; because in their wake the outgoing (sore) loser Trump felt clear basically to ban weapons-grade U from our immediate skies. Sorry, Project-Orion bros...

Here's a site on efforts, historical and recent, to blast our nukey ride to glory: Beyond NERVA. - as Bobby Zubrin would put it. As I look around, X-Energy claims to have a good LEU fuel. Although X-Energy ain't wholly correct that we've squeezed all we can out of chemical.

So, really, what Trump did, was to wink at the LEU (and fusion) guys: that here is where we needs focus, to get started. That's one thing he got right in his last year.