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NASA and DARPA will test nuclear thermal engines for crewed missions to Mars
The agencies hope to demonstrate the tech as soon as 2027.

Artist concept of Demonstration for Rocket to Agile Cislunar Operations
(DRACO) spacecraft, which will demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket
engine. Nuclear thermal propulsion technology could be used for future
NASA crewed missions to Mars.
NASA/DARPA
Kris Holt
Kris Holt|@krisholt|January 24, 2023 3:08 PM

NASA is going back to an old idea as it tries to get humans to Mars. It
is teaming up with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
to test a nuclear thermal rocket engine in space with the aim of using
the technology for crewed missions to the red planet. The agencies hope
to "demonstrate advanced nuclear thermal propulsion technology as soon
as 2027," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said. "With the help of this
new technology, astronauts could journey to and from deep space faster
than ever — a major capability to prepare for crewed missions to Mars."

Under the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO)
program, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate will take the lead
on technical development of the engine, which will be integrated with an
experimental spacecraft from DARPA. NASA says that nuclear thermal
propulsion (NTP) could allow spacecraft to travel faster, which could
reduce the volume of supplies needed to carry out a long mission. An NTD
engine could also free up space for more science equipment and extra
power for instrumentation and communication.

As far back as the 1940s, scientists started speculating about the
possibility of using nuclear energy to power spaceflight. The US
conducted ground experiments on that front starting in the '50s. Budget
cutbacks and changing priorities (such as a focus on the Space Shuttle
program) led to NASA abandoning the project at the end of 1972 before it
carried out any test flights.

There are, of course, risks involved with NTP engines, such as the
possible dispersal of radioactive material in the environment should a
failure occur in the atmosphere or orbit. Nevertheless, NASA says the
faster transit times that NTP engines can enable could lower the risk to
astronauts — they could reduce travel times to Mars by up to a quarter.
Nuclear thermal rockets could be at least three times more efficient
than conventional chemical propulsion methods.

NASA is also looking into nuclear energy to power related space
exploration efforts. In 2018, it carried out tests of a portable nuclear
reactor as part of efforts to develop a system capable of powering a
habitat on Mars. Last year, NASA and the Department of Energy selected
three contractors to design a fission surface power system that it can
test on the Moon. DARPA and the Defense Department have worked on other
NTP engine projects over the last few years.

Meanwhile, the US has just approved a small modular nuclear design for
the first time. As Gizmodo reports, the design allows for a nuclear
facility that's around a third the size of a standard reactor. Each
module is capable of producing around 50 megawatts of power. The design,
from a company called NuScale, could lower the cost and complexity of
building nuclear power plants.

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