Scientists have proposed two experimental spacecraft that could reach one of the farthest known objects in the solar system ...

Scientists and engineers are diligently working on innovative concepts to make the next era of human spaceflight more powerful and more efficient using nuclear propulsion. One of these designs, known ...

There have been off and on nuclear thermal rockets program since the 1960s. In 2022, DARPA announced its goal of conducting an in-space flight demonstration of nuclear thermal propulsion in 2026. In ...

He assumes a nuclear thermal rocket will be working by the end of 2030. He says the SpaceX approach to building a lot of rockets and doing 11 launches for refueling is more complicated than getting a ...

A nuclear thermal rocket engine in development could one day transport humans to Mars. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a research arm of the US Department of Defense, and NASA are ...

NASA's initiatives to pioneer next-generation space technologies are also hit hard in the White House's budget proposal. If ...

Engineers say a nuclear thermal rocket could cut astronauts' travel time to Mars from nine months to two. Credit: NASA NASA and the U.S. military plan to test a nuclear-powered rocket engine in ...

NASA and the DARPA's Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or DRACO, program intends to use this high-assay, low-enriched uranium fuel in its nuclear thermal propulsion engine. The ...

In the 1950s, the U.S. began focusing on nuclear propulsion as an effective way to power space exploration with projects ...

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) has stood as a promising potential alternative propulsion technology for decades. Chemical rockets have begun to reach their theoretical maximum efficiency, and ...

Research into nuclear thermal rocket engines by NASA began in 1959. A key program in the 1960s, called the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application, even sought to demonstrate the technology ...

NASA and the DARPA’s Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or DRACO, program intends to use this high-assay, low-enriched uranium fuel in its nuclear thermal propulsion engine. The ...