PROJECT NOVA

- the Manned Mission to Mars !

In the late 1950's - early 1960's, the NOVA program had many manifestations. The images and data (below) from the various competitors reflects the power and magesty these spacecraft would engender. Compare the Saturn V, which was our principal lifting vehicle for moon exploration, to the Douglas "ROOST" - the thrust on the Saturn V (7.5 million lbs. of thrust at liftoff) is rated at 47 K while the ROOST is rated at 455 K - some difference !

The Nova was to be our Manned Mars exploration lifting body. It would be powerful enough to lift the "landing party" and ALL of their supporting equipment, out of the Terrestrial gravity well. One must remember that at this point in time, rockets were blowing up with apalling frequency on or near the launch site, so designing these spacecraft took an incredible leap of faith. In most cases, these designs are based on then-existing technologies, such as the F-1 liquid-fueled rocket engine, or the J-2 second stage liquid fueled rocket engine. Some avant guarde technology was envisioned, though - note solid-rocket boosters on some of the larger NASA design variants of the Nova.

Also notable is the presence of several nuclear powered rockets. Nuclear power for rocket design was abandoned because it was felt that technology would not support the development of such a craft until certain base technologies became viable. The primary technology necessary was related to the development of a safe containment capability that would house the nuclear reactor and requisite material, and keep it safe from ANY damage imaginable - and some of the unimaginable ! Such technology is still beyond our capabilities.

Note the Aerospike design at the very bottom image - Martin Marietta Advanced Designs - anotated R10R-2, with 424 K thrust. The aerospike is a timeless design that gets dusted off and retried every time the technologies are deemed to have advanced sufficiently far enough. Does it look familiar ? Like the inlet to a high-speed jet engine (ala SR-71) ? The aerospike had its contibutions to both technologies !