NASA and DARPA have agreed to develop and test a nuclear rocket engine in space as early as 2027. Using a nuclear reactor as a power source could outperform chemical rockets and significantly shorten the time of the first manned Mars mission.
Humanity has made great strides in space exploration and development over the last 60 years, but as far as propulsion is concerned, today’s rockets are essentially the same as the German V-2 ballistic missiles of World War II. . Despite technological innovations such as solar sails and ion thrusters, space agencies still rely on chemical-fueled rockets for manned missions and missions that require very heavy payloads to be moved very quickly.
There are many problems with this, but the biggest one is that chemical rockets are operating at their theoretical limits. In fact, by 1942 they were already nearing their limits. This means that manned missions to the Moon are limited, expensive and few in number at best, while manned Mars missions are reaching the limits of technology and technology. It doesn’t get much more than a stunt.
To overcome this barrier, engineers are turning to more efficient and energy-dense propulsion based on nuclear reactor technology. NASA made serious attempts to develop nuclear rockets in his 1960s, but after 1964 these were abandoned as the Apollo moon landing project began to scale back.
The latest effort is the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cisluna Operations (DRACO) program. The program is tasked with developing a nuclear propulsion system capable of sending missions to Mars and providing the U.S. Space Force with the means to reach the moon. And move through cislunar space with a large payload in a very short notice.
By using a nuclear heat engine to heat the propellant to very high temperatures to produce thrust, the rocket can be more than three times as efficient as rockets fueled by conventional chemical fuels, reducing transit times. You can shorten it and increase the payload potential. For manned Mars missions, this means less radiation exposure, less negative effects from weightlessness, and less need for supplies and overly robust flight systems.
Under the new NASA/DARPA partnership, NASA’s Space Technology and Mission Directorate (STMD) will lead the development of a nuclear engine that will be integrated into the DARPA spacecraft in the form of an upper stage that operates only in space. Meanwhile, DARPA will continue as the contracting agency for the development of the entire stage, reactor and engine, in anticipation of his first flight tests as early as 2027.
Jim Reuter, Associate Administrator at STMD, said: “Recent advances in aerospace materials and engineering are enabling a new era of space nuclear technology. prize.”
Source: NASA
