About this Book
Principles of Nuclear Rocket Propulsion provides an understanding of the physical principles underlying the design and operation of nuclear fission based rocket engines. The book focuses primarily on nuclear thermal rocket engines in which the energy of a nuclear reactor is used to heat a propellant to high temperatures which is subsequently expelled through a nozzle to produce thrust. Other concepts are also touched upon such as a section devoted to the nuclear pulse rocket concept wherein the force of externally detonated nuclear explosions is used to accelerate a spacecraft.
The companion site to this book contains interactive calculators which demonstrate how parameter variations in the mathematical derivations affect the physical processes being described; and 3D figures that may be extensively manipulated to better visualize objects being studied.