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NASA: Spaceships may be powered by nuclear energy in the future

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said that using nuclear energy would make it possible to reach the edge of the solar system in just five years. At the same time, the Columbia ferry disaster investigation team reported on the formation of evidence that a hole in the wing did indeed cause the disaster

Despite the disaster of the Columbia crash, the American space agency NASA continues to plan for the future. The director of NASA, Sean O'Keefe, said tonight (Wed) that spaceships may be powered by nuclear energy in the future. According to him, the use of such a rocket will shorten the time it takes a spacecraft to reach the edge of the solar system from 15 years to five years.

In the past, NASA encountered opposition to the use of nuclear energy from environmentalists. O'Keefe noted that using nuclear engines in manned spacecraft would mean that astronauts would spend less time in space, and therefore absorb less radiation and suffer less loss of muscle and bone tissue.

The space shuttles are launched on a rocket and move in space by the force of inertia. Nuclear engines may allow them to reach other planets. Also, nuclear energy may be a substitute for solar energy that is used today, so that more scientific experiments can be performed.

Progress in the crash investigation

At the same time as NASA's announcement about the possible use of nuclear energy, Columbia crash disaster investigators announced that they are close to locating the place where the left wing was damaged. The hypothesis is being strengthened that the wing was indeed damaged during takeoff, as was initially suspected: "The evidence is now quite solid and indicates that the hole was caused by a piece of insulation the size of a suitcase that was torn from the fuel tank during takeoff," said Roger Tetrull, a member of the investigation team tonight.

Tetrull added: "I believe we are about 30 inches away from the impact site. We are getting closer." The researchers estimate that the hole that opened in the wing was 254 square centimeters in size. A hot gas plasma penetrated from that hole into the shuttle and caused it to disintegrate upon landing.

Apparently, part of an insulation tile at the end of the wing fell off in the first two days after takeoff. The upper part of the damaged area and two insulation seals were located and it appears that they were severely damaged by extremely high heat. X-ray tests performed on the wing fairing showed remnants of metal that had melted from the high heat. At the time of landing, the shuttle's sensors indicated an extremely high temperature in the landing pad. The shuttle's tires also melted from the high heat.

Roger Tetrull from the investigation team said: "My hope is that we can get to the investigation of this matter, and say with some precision where the hole was and what its size was." The chairman of the investigation team, retired admiral Harold Gehman, expressed hope that within a week or two "a working assumption will be formulated that will be based on mountains of information and mountains of shuttle parts." So far, almost 40% of the Columbia parts have been located, a total of 78,000 parts and the search for more parts continues, mainly in Texas.

At a research institute in San Antonio, this week they will begin to perform a series of experiments to examine the damage caused to the insulation tiles and the wing casing. During the experiments, parts will be thrown at a speed of 725 km/h towards a part that resembles a ferry wing, similar to the series of events that probably led to the disaster.
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