There have been full scale nuclear thermal rocket engines built and tested on the ground since the 1960s. The US had the NERVA project. The attraction is that the ISP would be up to triple the ISP of ...

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

NASA is still shooting for the Red Planet, aiming to get astronauts there by the late 2030s or early 2040s. And it still views nuclear thermal propulsion as a key breakthrough that could make this ...

NASA wants to design and demonstrate a working nuclear thermal rocket by 2027. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson introduced the project on Tuesday (Jan. 24) during a presentation at the 2023 American ...

A nuclear thermal rocket engine in development could one day transport humans to Mars. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a research arm of the US Department of Defense, and NASA are ...

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

Engineers say a nuclear thermal rocket could cut astronauts' travel time to Mars from nine months to two. Credit: NASA NASA and the U.S. military plan to test a nuclear-powered rocket engine in ...

NASA will test a nuclear-powered rocket for space travel. The technology could speed up a manned trip to Mars from the current seven-month minimum to 45 days.

The nuclear thermal rocket would allow transit between the moon and Mars to take less time while also reducing the risk for astronauts. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks during a visit to the ...

Nuclear thermal propulsion, or NTP, is a potentially game-changing technology for NASA's crewed missions to Mars in the 2040 timeframe. NTP engines use a nuclear reactor to heat hydrogen to ultra ...

Research into nuclear thermal rocket engines by NASA began in 1959. A key program in the 1960s, called the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application, even sought to demonstrate the technology ...