New age for rocketry.

Above: Cargo Rocket in action, New Atlas

Pentagon's new plan: cargo rockets can transport troops all around the world in 90 minutes. And that is not everything. The rockets provide a valuable hypersonic transportation tool for humans, robots, and drones, as well as bombs and other systems. The new ability to send men and cargo anywhere on Earth is one of the things that makes those systems suitable for many roles. The rocket is one of the things that have more capacity than people even think.

Chemical rockets can create fuel in their body. The rocket just needs the electrolysis system. The weak thrust with a hydrogen-oxygen mixture can be compensated by injecting water into a rocket chamber. Or there must be some kind of structure where the pressure wave can jump to the front of the engine. The system requires only electricity and a filter that removes sodium and chlorine. 

The last Pentagon's rocket plan was Project Orion, the rocket that planned to use the small nuclear bombs to transfer the craft to Mars. The improved version of the Orion spacecraft is the system called Medusa. The Medusa system is the solar sail that is connected to Orion. It should give more power when nuclear bombs detonate behind the craft the particles hit a larger area. The Medusa system can also benefit from the particle flow from the sun that regular spacecraft. 

The Pentagon planned that project as the nuclear-powered space bomber. But the same technology could be used in the interplanetary spacecraft. Another interesting nuclear-powered airborne system was Project Pluto. The nuclear-powered ramjet engine should drive cruise missiles to unlimited flight. 

Images above: USAF cargo rocket could land anywhere on Earth in under 90 minute,  New Atlas

Above: Project Pluto. Global Security, SLAM Supersonic Low-Altitude Missile ("Project Pluto")

Illustration of a spacecraft enabled by nuclear thermal propulsion. Image generated by AI. (Sustainability Times, China Caught Off Guard as U.S. Unleashes Liquid Uranium Rocket to Conquer Mars with Unmatched Nuclear Speed)

Theoretically, Project Pluto was the most capable system that was ever tested. But the reality was that Project Pluto, or a nuclear-powered ramjet engine could cause pollution that could be worse than Chernobyl. The nuclear-powered ramjet-driven plane can fly to space and then dive back into the atmosphere where the engine system can fill its gas tanks. 

And then that gas can be driven through a nuclear reactor and that stored air can create thrust outside the atmosphere. The Pluto (Tory-IIC) engine could be like NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application) but unlike NERVA or nuclear thermal rocket, NTR. In the atmosphere, Pluto breathes air from the atmosphere and heats it with a nuclear reactor. 

The Pluto engine can also operate in atmospheres where there is no oxygen. The system can also use any kind of liquid or gas for the thrust. So, that kind of system can open a route to the entire solar system. That gives it unlimited operational capacity. And we might think that the Russian  9M730 Burevestnik(SSC-X-9 Skyfall) missile is similar to Project Pluto. 

But modern systems can be more capable than those past projects. China tests new engine systems that base the use of liquid or molten uranium. The system injects that uranium into the rocket engine and it should give more punch than any other fission rocket system. The molten uranium makes the engine run very hot. And then the system will expand the fuel very much. That system will be more capable than NERVA but the problem is to keep its temperature low enough. AI-based solutions and new materials make that kind of system more powerful. 

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/rocket-lab-rocket-experiment-global-cargo-delivery

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/slam-pics.htm

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/tech-demo-missions-program/nuclear-thermal-propulsion-game-changing-technology-for-deep-space-exploration/

https://nasa.fandom.com/wiki/NERVA

 https://newatlas.com/military/cargo-rocket-land-90-minutes/

https://www.sustainability-times.com/energy/china-caught-off-guard-as-u-s-unleashes-liquid-uranium-rocket-to-conquer-mars-with-unmatched-nuclear-speed/

https://thedefensepost.com/2022/09/13/sierra-space-pentagon-rocket-cargo/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9M730_Burevestnik

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NERVA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto