NASA Picks Lockheed Martin to Develop Nuclear Rocket

July 27th, 2023

Via: PhysOrg:

NASA and the US military said Wednesday they had selected defense contractor Lockheed Martin to develop a nuclear powered rocket, with a view to using the technology for missions to Mars.

The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program may launch as soon as 2027, officials said on a call.

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) systems could cut journey times, increase fuel efficiency, and require less propellant, meaning future spacecraft could carry larger payloads than today’s best chemical rockets.

NTP works by pumping a liquid propellant, in DRACO’s case cryogenic hydrogen, through a reactor core, where uranium atoms split apart through fission.

Posted in [???], Space, Technology | Top Of Page

One Response to “NASA Picks Lockheed Martin to Develop Nuclear Rocket”

  1. stimoceiver says:
    July 28, 2023 at 11:13 am

    Via the US National Archives: Here’s an old NASA documentary on Nuclear Propulsion that gives an extraordinarily detailed glimpse into the state of the art of nuclear propulsion in 1968 and some of the the research that led up to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDNX65d-FBY

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