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NERVA XE in an engine test stand

The Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) was a rocket engine development program intended to establish a technology base for nuclear thermal rocket systems for space missions, as this promised to be more efficient than chemical rockets. NERVA was a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission and NASA, and was managed by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office (SNPO). NERVA was considered a successful program in that it met or exceeded its program goals and demonstrated that nuclear thermal rocket engines were a feasible and reliable tool for space exploration. At the end of 1968 the SNPO deemed that the latest NERVA engine, the XE (pictured), met the requirements for a human mission to Mars. It had strong political support but was canceled by President Richard Nixon in 1973. Although NERVA engines were built and tested largely with flight-certified components and were deemed ready for integration into spacecraft, they never flew in space. (Full article...)

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In the news

OSIRIS-REx capsule

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission returns samples of asteroid Bennu to Earth (return capsule pictured).
Tigst Assefa breaks the women's world record at the Berlin Marathon.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland is accused of involvement in a cash-for-visa corruption scandal.
Former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano dies at the age of 98.

On this day

September 28

Alexander Fleming

235 – In the first papal renunciation in history, Pope Pontian abdicated after being arrested and exiled to Sardinia by Roman authorities.
1066 – William the Conqueror and his fleet of around 600 ships landed at Pevensey, Sussex, beginning the Norman conquest of England.
1901 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas killed more than forty American soldiers in a surprise attack on the town of Balangiga on the island of Samar.
1928 – Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming (pictured) discovered penicillin when he noticed a bacteria-killing mould growing in his laboratory.
1975 – An attempted robbery of Spaghetti House, a restaurant in Knightsbridge, London, turned into a six-day hostage situation.

Rabbi Akiva (d. 135)
Elizabeth Maitland, Duchess of Lauderdale (b. 1626)
Florence Violet McKenzie (b. 1890)
Guillermo Endara (d. 2009)

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Today's featured picture

The Unité d'Habitation of Berlin is a 1958 apartment building located in Berlin, a seminal example of modernist architectural design. The brainchild of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, it embodies the principles of his concept of unité d'habitation, an innovative response to post–World War II urban-housing challenges. This residential edifice is distinguished by its unwavering commitment to functionalism and efficiency. It encompasses 530 modular residential units, distributed across seventeen floors. The exterior façade, seen here in 2021, is characterized by the employment of rough-cast concrete, with colors designed by Le Corbusier together with the painter Fernand Léger.

Photograph credit: Matthias Süßen

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