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Nuclear Rocket Development Station Tested Nuclear
Rocket for Mars Mission
 In the mid-1950s, the United States initiated a nuclear rocket
program called "Project Rover."
The Nevada Test Site (NTS) was selected to test nuclear reactors and
engines, and perform various ground tests. The tests, performed in the
southwest corner of NTS (Area 25), ended in 1972.
The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) Space Nuclear Propulsion Office jointly
administered the test area --subsequently designated as the Nuclear
Rocket Development Station (NRDS).
During the life of its operation, more than $100 million was spent on
facility construction and equipment. The NRDS consisted of test cells,
"A," "C," and ETS-1 Engine Test Stand; R-MAD and E-MAD (Reactor and
Engine Maintenance Assembly and Disassembly facilities; a Control
Point/Technical Operations complex; an administrative area; and a
radioactive material storage area.
The three test cell areas were connected by road and railroad to the
R-MAD and E-MAD buildings.
The Rover Program successfully demonstrated that a nuclear reactor could
be used to heat liquid hydrogen for spacecraft propulsion.
 The
'Kiwi', 'Phoebus', 'Peewee' and ' Nuclear Furnace' series were developed
and tested to understand the basics of nuclear rocket reactor
technology. The reactors, designed to study high-temperature fuels and
long-life fuel elements, were operated with increasingly greater
specific impulses, power levels, and power densities.
Rover also included the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA)
program, a technology demonstration effort to determine the
characteristics of the NERVA Reactor Experiment and Ground Experiment
Engines (an outgrowth of the 'Kiwi' reactor series) during start up,
full power, and shutdown conditions.
Based on results of those demonstrations, scientists began designing a
nuclear rocket using a high-power, high-thrust NERVA engine and a
low-power, low-thrust, small engine. These designs were for the
in-flight test program.
In 1969, the United States abandoned plans for human exploration of
Mars. The Rover Program was subsequently canceled in 1972. Today there
are indications of renewed interest in development of a nuclear rocket
engine for deep space missions.
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