Editing Nuclear thermal rocket (section)

=== Liquid core ===
Liquid core nuclear engines are fueled by compounds of [[Fissile material|fissionable elements]] in [[liquid phase]]. A liquid-core engine is proposed to operate at temperatures above the melting point of solid nuclear fuel and cladding, with the maximum operating temperature of the engine instead of being determined by the reactor pressure vessel and [[neutron reflector]] material. The higher operating temperatures would be expected to deliver specific impulse performance on the order of 1300 to 1500 seconds (12.8-14.8&nbsp;kN·s/kg).{{citation_needed|date=June 2019}}

A liquid-core reactor would be extremely difficult to build with current technology. One major issue is that the reaction time of the nuclear fuel is much longer than the heating time of the working fluid. If the nuclear fuel and working fluid are not physically separated, this means that the fuel must be trapped inside the engine while the working fluid is allowed to easily exit through the nozzle. One possible solution is to rotate the fuel/fluid mixture at very high speeds to force the higher-density fuel to the outside, but this would expose the reactor pressure vessel to the maximum operating temperature while adding mass, complexity, and moving parts.{{citation_needed|date=June 2019}}

An alternative liquid-core design is the [[nuclear salt-water rocket]]. In this design, water is the working fluid and also serves as the [[neutron moderator]]. Nuclear fuel is not retained, which drastically simplifies the design. However, the rocket would discharge massive quantities of extremely radioactive waste and could only be safely operated well outside the Earth's [[atmosphere of Earth|atmosphere]] and perhaps even [[magnetosphere]].{{citation_needed|date=June 2019}}