Taylor Hampson, a master's student at MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, works under the advisement of Professor Koroush Shirvan on modeling the behavior of an unconventional rocket engine that will heat propellant using nuclear energy.

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MIT News

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) could enable faster Mars missions by using nuclear energy to heat propellant like hydrogen, achieving double the efficiency of chemical rockets with the same thrust. MIT master's student Taylor Hampson is modeling an entire NTP rocket engine system to understand how components interact during complex startup and shutdown sequences, where rapid temperature changes and nuclear decay heat create unique engineering challenges. The research, sponsored by NASA, addresses critical unknowns as the agency plans human Mars missions in the 2030s.

Fueling research in nuclear thermal propulsion