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Author
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Topic: What happened to the Rover Nuclear Rocket/1961
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STEVE SMITH
unregistered
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posted 07-16-2007 02:24 PM
 
I was listening to JFK's speech to Congress on May 25, 1961, and he mentioned continued funding for the Nuclear powered "Rover Rocket". I was pretty interested in things like this back then and still am. However I don't remember anything about this.Can someone give me some details. BTW, this is the speech by JFK to Congress where he laid out going to the moon by end of 1969. This speech, as well as the September 1962 Rice University Speech ("We choose to go to the moon, not because it's easy, but because its difficult.----") are on a Two CD set from JFK LIbrary of 220 minutes of his best speeches. The first half from 1960 campaign, and 2nd half from his Presidency.
I'd highly recommend it. Kathy and I got it during a 6 hour visit (First Time) to the JFK library July 6, 2007 during a wonderful week in Boston. Even wound up eating, completely by chance, at the table at the Omni Parker House where JFK proposed to Jackie in 1953. Wow!!! (Not to mention the Boston Cream Pie, Parker House Rolls, and Scrod. Life is good.) |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 07-16-2007 06:23 PM
 
During the 1980's I lived in the Parker House for six weeks (business). I had dinner at the same table!
-Lou |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-17-2007 06:06 PM
quote:
Originally posted by STEVE SMITH:
Can someone give me some details.
Get a copy of James Dewar's book To the End of the Solar System: The Story of the Nuclear Rocket.
I have some problems with the writing style and the conclusions, but Dewar probably knows more about this subject than any other person. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-18-2007 08:54 AM
Sorry, I did something that I find annoying when other people do it--pointed you to a book that will take you awhile to acquire rather than give you the answer.The short answer is that ROVER transformed into NERVA. NERVA was, for all intents and purposes, a prototype for a flight vehicle. By the end of the program (early 1970s) they were considering developing a smaller version for use as an upper stage on Shuttle. I believe that NERVA was a little bigger than what they decided NASA needed. The program got canceled around 1972 or so. Now the nuclear rocket enthusiasts will claim that it was environmentalists who killed the program and that this was terribly unfair. The reality was that there was no clear need for the nuclear rocket. It made sense if NASA was going to follow Apollo with a manned Mars program. But because that never got off the ground, the nuclear rocket went searching for a reason to exist. It probably lasted longer than it should have because of pork barrel politics--it was supported by a powerful senator who wanted the development money spent in his state. But eventually NASA reached a point where it made no sense to spend money on an expensive system that was not clearly needed. There were cheaper and less messy alternatives. That's the short answer. The longer answer is in Dewar's book. |
STEVE SMITH
unregistered
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posted 07-18-2007 12:18 PM
Thanks Dwayne. | |
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