The United States flew a reactor in space in the 1960s and has studied nuclear thermal propulsion for decades. Fuel is not the primary limitation either; the enriched uranium supply chain is ...

I’ve grown up with rockets that burn chemical fuel, but NASA’s next big leap in propulsion could make those engines look as dated as steam trains. By turning to nuclear power in space, the agency is ...

Human crews headed for Mars are still looking at journeys that last most of a year, long enough for radiation, boredom and mechanical risk to pile up. Nuclear propulsion promises to compress that ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New developments in nuclear thermal propulsion technologies may soon enable advanced space missions to the farthest reaches of the solar system. Leading these advances are researchers ...

This study will identify primary technical and programmatic challenges, merits, and risks for developing and demonstrating space nuclear propulsion technologies of interest to future exploration ...

How can nuclear propulsion help improve deep space missions by significantly reducing the amount of time to reach Mars and beyond? This is what a recent study published in Acta Astronautica hopes to ...