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NASA wants to build nuclear-powered Mars rocket

1.2.2023

Translation: machine translated

A nuclear-thermal propulsion system should allow astronauts to travel through space "faster than ever before". NASA and cooperation partner DARPA want to test it as early as 2027.

A rocket with nuclear-thermal propulsion could reach distant destinations in space in record time. This would be particularly advantageous for future manned missions to Mars, as the shorter the flight, the lower the risk to the crew - especially with regard to radiation exposure from the sun in interplanetary space. So far, however, such a propulsion system only exists as a concept. The goal of a collaboration announced on Tuesday between the US space agency NASA and DARPA, the research agency of the US Department of Defence, is to actually launch it into space. The first test flight could take place as early as 2027, according to a press release from the organisations.

Nuclear-thermal propulsion propels the spacecraft to significantly higher speeds while using its fuel more economically than conventional chemical engines. A nuclear reactor on board the rocket heats a liquid fuel, such as hydrogen, to an extremely high temperature and ejects the gaseous material via a nozzle at the rear. According to NASA, the efficiency is at least three times higher than that of conventional chemical propulsion systems. Such a spacecraft could reach Mars in as little as three months. So far, experts have calculated double or triple that time.

The last tests of such a propulsion system were carried out 50 years ago, writes the US space agency. Now it apparently wants to revive the idea as part of its Moon-to-Mars goals. A nuclear-thermal propulsion system would not be used to launch the rocket into orbit, but would only be used in space - for example on a future moon base that NASA wants to develop as a springboard for the journey to Mars.

The actual development work for the planned new propulsion system is to be led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The research facility is affiliated with the US Department of Defence and has been a long-standing project partner of NASA.

According to the press release, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) will lead the technical development of the engine, which will then be integrated into a DARPA experimental spacecraft. DARPA will act as the contractor for the development of the entire stage and engine, which also includes the reactor.

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Cover image: DARPA (detail) / Illustration of the planned test platform DRACO (Demonstration for Rocket to Agile Cislunar Operations). Its nuclear-thermal propulsion system could give the rocket more thrust than a chemical propulsion system.

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