Project Rover: Nuclear Rocket Engineering

[Webster]

A Los Alamos National Laboratory documentary, probably from 1965, about Project Rover (a nuclear rocket engine), AI upscaled and remastered to 1080p.

Footage from Kiwi engine tests in Los Alamos and Jackass Flats in Nevada are shown, along with illustrations and animations.

AI upscale (Topaz AI) was used to resample the film to full HD resolution. While it works in most cases, some artifacts are present in some sequences. The original music segments were replaced to avoid any sound muting problems.

Clean up, color correction, and AI upscale by Retro Space HD.

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Project Rover was a United States project to develop a nuclear-thermal rocket that ran from 1955 to 1973 at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL). It began as a United States Air Force project to develop a nuclear-powered upper stage for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The project was transferred to NASA in 1958 after the Sputnik crisis triggered the Space Race. It was managed by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office (SNPO), a joint agency of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), and NASA. Project Rover became part of NASA's Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) project and henceforth dealt with the research into nuclear rocket reactor design, while NERVA involved the overall development and deployment of nuclear rocket engines, and the planning for space missions. Projects Rover and NERVA were canceled in January 1973, and none of the reactors ever flew.