Nuclear Salt-Water Drive
Also known as the Nuclear Salt-Water Rocket (NSWR), Zubrin drive (after its creator, an Age of Prosperity scientist), fission torch, or boomdrive (to toren spacers), a type of reaction engine utilizing a nuclear fission explosion for propulsion. Its fuel is water seeded with enriched uranium tetrabromide salts added in a concentration such that when enough of it is gathered together, the fissile material will reach a critical mass and explode. To prevent this from happening before use, the fuel must be stored in special pipes lined with boron or another neutron-moderating material. The engine itself consists of a sturdy pusher plate or rocket bell into which the fuel is sprayed by turbopumps and undergoes fission into a superheated plasma, meaning a vessel utilizing this drive is propelled by a continuously-detonating nuclear explosion.
Despite the obvious hazard of an atomic fireball constantly burning below one's ship, the NSWR is simple in construction and easy to maintain, usually requires no complex radiator system since most of the waste heat is carried away by the exhaust, and does not need any expensive control systems or superconducting lantern structures like a fusion engine. This has earned it the name "poor man's torch drive", since it provides a cheap method of fast interplanetary travel. Hence, NSWR ships are commonly seen in less-developed star systems or in the hands of operators who cannot afford or do not want to bother with the expense and high technology of a fusion motor.
In regions of high traffic and population, operation of NSWR engines is often restricted due to the copious shower of radioactive exhaust products they expel. Using one for liftoff will reduce the launch pad to glowing slag.
Despite the obvious hazard of an atomic fireball constantly burning below one's ship, the NSWR is simple in construction and easy to maintain, usually requires no complex radiator system since most of the waste heat is carried away by the exhaust, and does not need any expensive control systems or superconducting lantern structures like a fusion engine. This has earned it the name "poor man's torch drive", since it provides a cheap method of fast interplanetary travel. Hence, NSWR ships are commonly seen in less-developed star systems or in the hands of operators who cannot afford or do not want to bother with the expense and high technology of a fusion motor.
In regions of high traffic and population, operation of NSWR engines is often restricted due to the copious shower of radioactive exhaust products they expel. Using one for liftoff will reduce the launch pad to glowing slag.
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