NASA picks Lockheed Martin to develop nuclear rocket

NASA and the US army mentioned Wednesday they’d chosen protection contractor Lockheed Martin to develop a nuclear powered rocket, with a view to utilizing the expertise for missions to Mars.

The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program might launch as quickly as 2027, officers mentioned on a name.

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) techniques might lower journey occasions, improve fuel efficiency, and require much less propellant, that means future spacecraft might carry bigger payloads than as we speak’s finest chemical rockets.

NTP works by pumping a liquid propellant, in DRACO’s case cryogenic hydrogen, by means of a reactor core, the place uranium atoms break up aside by means of fission.

The method tremendous heats the propellant, changing it right into a fuel and funneling it by means of a nozzle to supply thrust.

“These extra highly effective and environment friendly nuclear thermal propulsion techniques can present quicker transit occasions between locations,” mentioned Kirk Shireman, vice chairman of Lunar Exploration Campaigns at Lockheed Martin Area.

“Decreasing transit time is important for human missions to Mars to restrict a crew’s publicity to radiation,” he added.

BWX Applied sciences can be accountable for creating the nuclear reactor and propellant.

For security functions, DRACO’s reactor is not going to be turned on till the spacecraft has reached a excessive orbit.

Shireman added that the expertise might additionally “revolutionize” future missions to the Moon, the place NASA plans to construct long run habitats as a part of the Artemis program.

NASA performed its final nuclear thermal rocket engine assessments greater than 50 years in the past however this system was deserted attributable to budget cuts and Chilly Battle tensions.

© 2023 AFP