Unfortunately, had that work progressed we would have engines with no mission to use them.
NERVA produced motors that were all but flight ready, but they had no missions to fly on. Timberwind similarly was far along but there was no use for a nuclear thermal engine, and public opinion of nuclear power was/is extremely negative. So away they went.
quadlord t1_j22iz6b wrote
Reply to What if we kept pursuing nuclear spacecraft propulsion? by rosTopicEchoChamber
Unfortunately, had that work progressed we would have engines with no mission to use them.
NERVA produced motors that were all but flight ready, but they had no missions to fly on. Timberwind similarly was far along but there was no use for a nuclear thermal engine, and public opinion of nuclear power was/is extremely negative. So away they went.