NASA's initiatives to pioneer next-generation space technologies are also hit hard in the White House's budget proposal. If ...

Scientists and engineers are diligently working on innovative concepts to make the next era of human spaceflight more ...

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) has stood as a promising potential alternative propulsion technology for decades. Chemical rockets have begun to reach their theoretical maximum efficiency, and ...

Getting to Mars takes a really long time, about nine months using today's rocket technology. This is because regular rocket engines burn fuel and oxygen together (like a car engine), but they're not ...

“We’ve spent nearly $20 billion on nuclear (space) power since the 50s and the only system we currently have is a light-bulb sized, 100-watt radioisotope generator,” Bhavya Lal, former NASA ...

The U.S. is very aware of the nuclear future of spaceflight—it’s why NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are launching a nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) powered by solid ...

Lockheed Martin and partner BWX Technologies were on contract to develop a nuclear thermal rocket through the DARPA-NASA DRACO program. Credit: Lockheed Martin NASA’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget ...

“The Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket (CNTR) is a Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) concept designed to heat propellant directly by the reactor fuel,” explained the researchers in a new study.

This technology aims to provide twice the specific impulse compared to chemical engines, which will allow for higher speeds and longer distances. As part of the NASA DRACO, nuclear thermal propulsion ...