Illustration of a Mars transit habitat and nuclear propulsion system that could one day take astronauts to Mars.
Illustration of a Mars transit habitat and nuclear propulsion system that could one day take astronauts to Mars. Credit: NASA

In this episode of the Space Economy podcast, the third and last episode of our annual Winter Series, we’re featuring a recent Future in Space Operations presentation by Tim Kokan, Principal Engineer at Aerojet Rocketdyne.

The topic of this episode is “Space Nuclear Propulsion: From Current Efforts to a Future Human Mars Campaign.”

The speaker, Dr. Tim Kokan, is a principal engineer within the Mission Architecture group at Aerojet Rocketdyne. He has 19 years of experience in mission analysis and conceptual vehicle design and modelling on a variety of vehicles and applications including: in-space chemical, nuclear, and electric stages, planetary landers, and rocket-based and air- breathing launch vehicles. His responsibilities include mission and vehicle architecture conceptual development, conceptual vehicle sizing, trajectory modelling and optimization, propulsion system sizing and optimization, aerodynamics analysis, and cost estimating. He is currently the technical lead for Aerojet Rocketdyneโ€™s Human Lunar and Mars Exploration architecture development efforts identifying architectures and technologies needed for the affordable and sustainable exploration of both the Moon and Mars.

Liste in.

Space nuclear propulsion presentation

Marc Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor, podcaster and publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media. Marc has 30+ years working in various roles in media, space sector not-for-profits, and internet content development.

Marc started his first Internet creator content business in 1992 and hasn't looked back. When not working Marc loves to explore Canada, the world and document nature through his photography.

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