NASA Researchers Studying Advanced Nuclear Rocket Technologies

Space Travel.com by Rick Smith for Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 10, 2013

By using an innovative test facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., researchers are able to use non-nuclear materials to simulate nuclear thermal rocket fuels -- ones capable of propelling bold new exploration missions to the Red Planet and beyond.[emphasis added]

It's better than nothing, but it is still not the "real thing".  The type of testing will allow for the development of materials that could withstand the rigors of this type of activity.  The results of the testing can give a greater confidence level to what will work and what won't work.  But there still needs to be testing done with real materials that are---gasp--- radioactive.

There's a lot of fear out there about radioactivity.  I think it is largely due to ignorance.  Therefore, it is correctable, but only so if there is the will to do the necessary teaching.  Such will does not exist.  Quite the contrary.  I suspect the powers-that-be have decided that fear is useful and are allowing the fear to continue to inhibit further development of this type of technology.  The leadership is making a big mistake, in my opinion.

Update:

More here at Gizmag ( lots more details ).

Update:

Including this quote from the article mentioned at the beginning of this post.  It is interesting to note that the reactor isn't "dangerous" until it is turned on, with the plan of turning it on taking place when safely into space.  What if you light it up just above the Karman line, which means that you are already in space, but not into orbit?  That's kind of the idea behind using an airbreathing booster to get up to the velocity needed to break through the Karman line and thus reach space, even though it isn't into orbit yet.

A nuclear cryogenic upper stage -- its liquid-hydrogen propellant chilled to super-cold temperatures for launch -- would be designed to be safe during all mission phases and would not be started until the spacecraft had reached a safe orbit and was ready to begin its journey to a distant destination. Prior to startup in a safe orbit, the nuclear system would be cold, with no fission products generated from nuclear operations, and with radiation below significant levels.