NASA announces restart of Cold War-era "nuclear thermal rocket engine" to prepare for Mars mission

CTOnews.com, January 25, NASA announced that it will cooperate with DARPA (Defense Advanced Research projects Agency) to restart the Cold War era of "nuclear thermal rocket engine (Nuclear Thermal Rocket Engine)" technology.

NASA will be responsible for the development of the rocket engine itself, while DARPA will be responsible for building rockets with the engine. NASA hopes to demonstrate nuclear thermal rocket technology in 2027 and prepare for future missions to Mars.

▲ source NASACTOnews.com learned that the partnership program is called "Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations", or DRACO for short.

The nuclear-powered rocket NASA is trying to develop does not burn nuclear material directly as fuel, but only uses the nuclear reactor as a "heater". The actual thrust is the hydrogen that passes through the reaction furnace through the pipeline, which expands rapidly after heating and is ejected from the nozzle to generate thrust. This technology was proposed in the 1940s, and experiments began in the United States in the 1950s.

Unlike using a nuclear reaction as a fuel directly, the nuclear reaction of a nuclear thermal rocket engine is closed, and if it is fully functioning properly, there will be no leakage of nuclear material. However, if the rocket accidentally explodes before reaching outer space, it is still possible to spread nuclear material into the atmosphere. In order to avoid unnecessary risks and a shortage of funds, NASA stopped research on nuclear thermal engines in 1972.

Now, with decades of experience in miniaturizing nuclear power systems, improved rocket safety, and a better understanding of nuclear safety, NASA believes that the risk of nuclear thermal rocket engines is manageable and is worth trying to shorten the time it takes to travel to Mars. Nuclear thermal rocket engines do not have to carry oxidants because they are not powered by chemical reactions. This makes nuclear thermal rocket engines more than three times as efficient as ordinary chemical engines, providing more power and allowing spacecraft to Mars to carry more supplies.