Editing Radioisotope rocket (section)

==Technology development==

[[TRW Inc.|TRW]] maintained a fairly active development program known as '''Poodle''' from 1961 to 1965, and today the systems are still often known as '''Poodle thrusters'''. The name was a play on the larger systems being developed under [[Project Rover]], which led to NERVA. In April 1965 they ran their testbed engine for 65&nbsp;hours at about {{cvt|1500|C|F|-2}}, producing a specific impulse of 650 to 700&nbsp;seconds (6.5 to 7&nbsp;kN·s/kg).