:Marcus Cocceius Nerva was also the name of a Roman emperor NERVA is an acronym for Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application. It was a nuclear thermal rocket. The NERVA rocket engine was based on Kiwi nuclear reactor technology (the original flightless nuclear thermal rocket designs were named after the Kiwi flightless bird). In the early 1960s NASA planned to use NERVA to power a RIFT (Reactor-In-Flight-Test) nuclear stage to be launched in the early 1970s. The completed NERVA would be a n… (More on Nerva)