NASA engineers have completed first cold-flow tests of a full-scale nuclear thermal propulsion reactor, validating designs ...

Mars has always felt like a distant neighbor, reachable only after a long, risky cruise through deep space. Now engineers inside NASA are sketching a very different future, one where a nuclear powered ...

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert advice on some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and world. Our ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Every year, companies and space agencies launch hundreds of rockets ...

Space rockets may soon use nuclear-powered engines based on nuclear thermal propulsion, or NTP technology. While no nuclear engine will fly this year, the field is approaching a major milestone, with ...

If you want to go fast—and far—in space, the consensus is that you have to go nuclear. The U.S. Space Force, DARPA and NASA in recent years have funded several nuclear propulsion development efforts ...