But these rockets must carry oxygen with them into space, which can weigh them down. Unlike chemical propulsion systems, nuclear thermal propulsion systems rely on nuclear fission reactions to ...

The DRACO program plans to test a prototype nuclear thermal rocket in space as early as 2027, marking a significant milestone ...

An alternative technology to the chemically propelled rockets the agency develops now is called nuclear thermal propulsion, which uses nuclear fission and could one day power a rocket that makes ...

An alternative technology to the chemically propelled rockets the agency develops now is called nuclear thermal propulsion, which uses nuclear fission and could one day power a rocket that makes ...

But for now, he says, there are other better options, such as nuclear thermal electric propulsion. Another idea is to use chemical rockets to lift off from Earth and to land on Mars. But for the ...

On the nuclear electric propulsion side, the Air Force Research Laboratory contracted with Lockheed for the Joint Emergent ...

Scientists have thought about attaching nuclear, thermal-rocket engines to ammonia-heavy asteroids and redirecting the asteroids so that they crash into Mars and release the meteor's ammonia and ...

These systems do not require any sort of ignition system, so they’re reliable. But these rockets must carry oxygen with them into space, which can weigh them down. Unlike chemical propulsion systems, ...

Nuclear thermal propulsion is not a new idea for rockets — the concept was first tested in the 60s. It relies on using a nuclear reactor to heat a liquid propellant such as hydrogen. That heat ...