During the past few years significant accomplishments have been made in nuclear rocket development. It is the purpose of this paper to review this progress and to highlight the present status of the NERVA engine development. NERVA is part of the ROVER nuclear rocket engine program which was initiated at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in 1955. Figure 1 traces the key accomplishments of this development program from the beginning through the demonstration of feasibility, to the present phase of advancing the technology and extending performance.
The initial progress achieved by Los Alamos on the conceptual reactor design and fuel element development was rapid and, by 1959, the KIWI series of reactor tests demonstrated the significant performance and potential of nuclear rocket engines and stimulated interest in the development of a flight-type engine. The NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications) Program was initiated in 1961. This effort, under the direction of the Space Nuclear Propul sion Office of J\TASA and the AEC, is being performed by the Aerojet-General Corporation as the prime contractor and the Westinghouse Electric Corporation as the principal subcontractor for the nuclear subsystem development. The KIWI development program demonstrated feasibility and proof-ofprinciple of the nuclear rocket reactor. The NERVA Program is intended to extend these principles to practical application in the development of a system that would withstand the loads , environment, and operating requirements of flight. The KIWI and NERVA reactor programs have been closely coordinated to provide a continuing, logical development, and the chronology of progress clearly highlights the noteworthy advance that has been achieved in our basic technological understanding of the operating potentials and characteristics of the nuclear rocket engine
