Skip to content
Triumph Horizon
Log in
Aerospace glossary

Nuclear thermal propulsion

Also called NTP

A rocket engine that heats hydrogen in a nuclear reactor and expels it through a nozzle. It offers about twice the specific impulse of the best chemical engines, which could shorten trips to Mars.

Used in these articles

Related terms

Propulsion

Related coverage

Subscribers read the desk company and technology reports on the names it covers, including new reports before they are published on datadeep.tech.