Project Rover

Project Rover was the United States’ nuclear-thermal rocket research programme begun at Los Alamos in 1955. Its reactor and fuel-element experiments established how a fission reactor could heat hydrogen for rocket propulsion. The jointly managed NASA–Atomic Energy Commission effort included the Kiwi and Phoebus reactor series, Pewee and Nuclear Furnace fuel research, and the NERVA engine-development phase. Los Alamos developed reactor technology while NASA centres investigated propellant feed, pumps and other engine systems. The programme produced extensive ground-test evidence but no nuclear-rocket flight. Activities terminated on 5 January 1973.