As humans expand their ambitions in deep space, energy-intensive missions can’t afford to rely solely on combustion or solar power. They will need nuclear energy for propulsion and surface habitation.Jake Hecla ’17, who holds a dual appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) and Charles Stark Draper Career Development Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), is researching ways to address one of the principal heat transfer challenges in such deployments of nuclear power in space: a lack of atmosphere. He is also working on…
