Safe Nuclear Fission Engine
Innovative nuclear engine for cargo planes and military aircraft for long-term endurance. Additional flights and other services covered by this technology include suborbital rockets, high-altitude balloons, orbital spacecraft and satellites, and, in some instances, suborbital rockets that can accommodate carry people, e.g. for space tourism.
While the concept of nuclear-powered aircraft offers exciting possibilities for long-range, high-speed transportation, significant technical (weight and size), safety (radiation shielding and contamination prevention), and regulatory and political/public challenges must be addressed before such aircraft become a reality. Also, developing and testing nuclear engines is expensive, requiring significant investment and long-term commitment.
Program encompasses design, development, fabrication and assembly of a nuclear thermal aircraft engine that would secure years-long flight autonomy for cargo and military aircraft – an indefinite-delivery and indefinite-quantity base contract that had been awarded by a government agency at firm-fixed-price.
Such an aircraft have the potential for extended flight duration without the need for refueling, making them suitable for long-range missions. Nuclear engines could potentially propel aircraft to higher speeds than conventional jet engines, enabling rapid transportation over long distances. Last but not least, since they do not rely on traditional fuel sources, nuclear-powered aircraft could reduce dependency on fossil fuels.
Nuclear-powered aircraft use nuclear reactors to heat air, which is then expelled to generate thrust, similar to conventional jet engines but way more efficient. However, instead of burning fuel, these engines would rely on nuclear fission – mostly of transmuted fertile materials, in our design – to heat the air. This leap-ahead propulsion technology will use a proprietary magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster, which will allow constant power regardless of the decay of fertile and unspent nuclear fuel (UNF) mix and, moreover, the containment and management of radiation.
System is based on LFTR small modular reactor (SMR) design and operation whose fabrication will make use of a novel super-material – ASME Alloy 617, a combination of nickel, chromium, cobalt, and molybdenum – which gives advanced modular reactor and mission-critical propulsion engine developers like Ainira Industries more flexibility when choosing materials to build their high-temperature systems with an emphasis on human and environment safety.
This pioneering design could also open up new market opportunities for the nuclear industry by using its thermal heat to directly heat communities, drive industrial processes, propel ships at double the speed with 15 years between refuelling, produce green hydrogen cost-effectively, and even purify water for an entire city without emitting carbon.
