In the 1950s, rocket scientists dreamed of atomic-powered spaceships. Now these far-fetched designs might help a new generation explore the cosmos.
The supermassive black hole is 40 million times as massive as the sun and powers a quasar that existed 700 million years after the Big Bang.
The asteroid zoomed by Earth at a perfectly safe distance of around 1.8 million miles (2.9 kilometers).
Images show surprise changes to the spacecraft as it interacted with the atmosphere.
No..
Nuclear power is a decent idea but the concept of traveling at the speed of light doesn't make sense. By the time we reach our destination, we would have significantly aged. The only way I could see space travel making sense is if we bend space to link separate segments of the universe via portals.
Once they are able to shrink a nuclear fission reactor to a small enough size, Ad Astra's Vasimr magneto-pulse engine can get up to 100,000 mph.
"Will nuclear-powered spaceships take us to the stars?"
Why go there, won't we burn up within it's radius? :P
I'd like to believe we have other means at our disposal than something as critical as nuclear power.