Page 4 - Tabitha Dodson News Today

Lockheed is designing a spacecraft that can carry an experimental nuclear reactor engine and fuel developed by Virginia-based BWXT.

There was a conference discussion on moon and Mars space development.

"When people like to question the validity or usefulness of this engine, I point them to Wernher von Braun," said Tabitha Dodson, DRACO program manager at DARPA, "because this was more or less his idea."

NASA says it is teaming with a U.S. military research agency to develop a nuclear rocket designed to fly astronauts to Mars. The U.S. space agency hopes the effort will lead to a demonstration test flight as soon as 2027.

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The United States plans to test a spacecraft engine powered by nuclear fission by 2027.

The United States plans to test a spacecraft engine powered by nuclear fission by 2027 as part of a long-term NASA effort to demonstrate more efficient methods of propelling astronauts to Mars in the future, the space agencys chief said on Tuesday.

NASA will partner with the U.S. military's research and development agency, DARPA, to develop a nuclear thermal propulsion engine and launch it to space "as soon as 2027," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said.

NASA and the defense research agency DARPA believe they can safely use nuclear energy to power human spaceflight to the red planet.

NASA and the defense research agency DARPA believe they can safely use nuclear energy to power human spaceflight