Nuclear propulsion - Definition and Overview

Nuclear propulsion can include a wide variety of methods, the commonality of which is the use of some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source. Many military submarines and large surface ships use nuclear reactors as their power plants. In addition, various types of nuclear propulsion have been proposed for spacecraft applications:

• Nuclear thermal rocket
• Nuclear electric rocket
• Gaseous fission reactor
• Nuclear pulse propulsion
• Antimatter catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion
• Nuclear salt-water rocket
• Nuclear photonic rocket
• Fusion rocket
• Bussard ramjet

See also

• Project Pluto, which developed an unmanned cruise missile that used a nuclear powered ramjet for propulsion.