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Hermes - 9.55 km/s Hidrogen Deuteride Gimballed NTR

A rather large Deuteride Hydrogen NTR with a thrust of 14,8 MN and highly optimized towards efficiency. With a weight of 16.8 t it's quite heavy, but if combined with large fuel tanks the higher efficiency becomes very noticeable. Due to the huge size of hydrogen tanks, this NTR will not work too well for close range ships. Thick armor and massive tanks just don't match too well ; )
It's meant to be used with larger capital ships, that either intercept threats with drones, missiles and long range weapons or evade them alltogether. The engine will provide you with the necessary delta-v/payload capacity to rly focus on that strategy.
It's probably also a great candidate for tankers. Even if the rest of your fleet uses a different fuel, a more efficient tanker means more payload and thus more fuel for everybody else.

Regarding the radiation issue: the engine emmits 5,51 MW of it. So unless you want your crew to turn into glowing crisp, you need some intense radiation shielding. I experimented a little and the best way to do this, is a radiation shield made of lithium-6. You might be surprised, but a single 1 cm layer of it is more than enough. It ends up being a lot lighter than modifiying the engine (which I tried!). Just don't look out of the window whenever this thing flies by : P


Feedback is always appreciated!