Europe's Ambitious Plans for Nuclear and Solar-Powered Space Exploration

The European Space Agency has awarded funding to seven studies across Europe that are investigating the next-generation of rocket engines. As part of the investment, the ESA is supporting the work of a team from the Czech Republic, which is behind the RocketRoll program. The program is in development at the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart. The team is studying the practicalities of a new type of nuclear-based electric propulsion, which could be more efficient than the most efficient chemical propulsion or overcome solar-limited electric propulsion, enabling exploration of places no other technology can reach.