2026.06.04 20:16

CEO & CTO of @GoToImpulse Tom Mueller @lrocket says the "future of propulsion is nuclear electrics": "Nuclear electric propulsion is going to be important for going out to the outer planets." "If you're staying near Earth or even between Earth and Mars, probably solar electric is going to outperform it on cost and performance because solar is now getting very light in space." "Especially if @elonmusk starts doing these data servers in space—they're going to really optimize the solar panels to be really light." "I think it's pretty far in the future, maybe a few decades away before we're really doing big nuclear stages." "But that is the next step."

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Molly O’Shea@MollySOShea

2026.06.04 13:59

BREAKING: Inside Impulse Space with Tom Mueller (@lrocket) (SpaceX's 1st Employee) FULL TOUR The famous engineer behind the Merlin engine, now Founder, CEO & CTO of Impulse Space (@GoToImpulse) ICYMI: Merlin still powers Falcon 9 today, the most reliable rocket engine ever flown & the highest thrust-to-weight ever developed. It's the workhorse behind nearly every SpaceX mission: Starlink launches, Dragon crew & cargo flights to the ISS, & booster landings Tom walks us through the factory floor, from the avionics clean room to a live rocket engine firing in the vacuum chamber Impulse is building the in-space mobility layer: the vehicles & engines that move spacecraft after launch, from LEO to GEO, the Moon, infinity & beyond We cover: → Mira: precision maneuvering spacecraft & its saiph thrusters (8 thrusters, ~50 lbs thrust, 5-yr orbit life) → Helios: long haul same-day delivery vehicle (12 tons of LOX/methane, LEO to GEO) → Deneb Engine: 15,000 lbs thrust engine that powers Helios, ox-rich staged combustion, carbon skirt running over 3,000°F → Why 3D printing is "almost a cheat code" for rocket engines → In-house composite tanks, Novaloy, & copper liners machined from 700 lbs down to 25 → 3 spacecraft in orbit + a 1,200-meter rendezvous → Starlink, iterating Merlin & Raptor, & working with @elonmusk → Nuclear propulsion, the Moon, & why compute needs to move to space 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Tom Mueller, Founder, CEO & CTO of Impulse Space (00:49) Inside Impulse Space (02:32) Avionics Bay floor (02:59) Building rockets at home (03:50) Mira and Helios (08:00) Why Tom left SpaceX (09:33) The Deneb Engine walkthrough (11:42) Testing in Mojave (12:23) Favorite part of the Engine (13:30) How it's 3D Printed (14:21) Why 3D Printing changes everything (16:54) Finding Talent for COPVs (17:28) No Modern hardware without software (19:52) The Mill Turn explained (22:42) Payload Deck Design (25:28) Entering the Secret Area (30:48) Thrust, Flow Rate, & 100 Sensors (32:13) Collision avoidance in Orbit (32:57) The Electric Propulsion Chamber (34:28) Nuclear Electric is the future (38:49) Data Centers in Space (40:28) SpaceX & Starlink's Growth (41:10) Working with Elon (42:07) If not CEO, then what? (42:32) Moon matters more than Mars

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