| 🟠 Chemical | 🔵 Nuclear thermal | |
|---|---|---|
| Isp | – | – |
| Thrust | – | – |
| Propellant left | – | – |
| Velocity | – | – |
| Distance | – | – |
| Total achievable Δv | – | – |
Two identical spacecraft share the same dry mass and the same propellant budget — one flies with a chemical engine, the other with a nuclear thermal engine. Adjust specific impulse and thrust for each engine and launch both to see the fundamental propulsion tradeoff play out live: the chemical ship accelerates hard and fast but exhausts its usable Δv sooner, while the nuclear thermal ship accelerates gently for a long burn and ends up with substantially more total delta-v from the exact same propellant mass — because Δv depends on specific impulse and mass ratio, not on thrust.