To win the race to Mars, NASA is prepared to go nuclear

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Tom Costello reports from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where NASA is developing nuclear rockets to take humans to the Moon and beyond.

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#NASA #Mars #NuclearRockets

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Wouldn't it be great if we could come together as a species and work together to get off this rock. Imagine the progress.

freedomle

100% support NASA going this route. We can't just ignore the possibilities because it sounds scary.

Callsign_Prophet

It takes 6 months every two years to get to Mars.

dougcampbell

I love when mainstream news covers space. No political shadiness or manipulation, just straight up facts.

jarederisman

Competition is the key to getting to Mars. That’s what got us to the moon.

eddycharles

Glad to see NASA is looking at the work done on NERVA and, I assume, updating it with today's technology. No use re-inventing the wheel when it was sitting in the "garage" the whole time!

tracyjohnson

I like how it's no longer a question of if but when... Waiting to see the winner of the new space race

pommenoir

There is always risk when dealing with fissile materials, and we need to take every possible precaution when launching nuclear drive powered craft. But for interplanetary missions, chemical propulsion just doesn't cut it. And as the piece suggests, there is absolutely a geopolitical dimension to this - the new space race could begin very soon.

petekwando

I hope we can unite humanity first and then progress will be infinitive.

stefanlennartsson

This new "space race" to Mars is the greatest thing that has ever happened so far. So inspiring, positive, exciting; uniting humanity over a common goal!

dexterz

and if fission is that good, imagine the leap to fusion engines. I really hope this brings back the enthusiasm for terrestrial nuclear power as well.

nickalderman

Amazing that 50 year old technology is ahead of everyone else…

snieves

It wasn't a bad start! A bad start would have been it blowing up on the pad. Anything past that was considered a success. The pad damage mostly was a crater the engines made under the pad which is being improved as we speak

GamerBoyRobby

It was a huge mistake on US part to cancel nuclear rocket testing back in the 70s because of nuclear concerns (while I know it was the peak of the cold war)

Shame, we could have explored space or even have launched multiple multi planetary missions.

神林しマイケル

With Starship's ability to send over 100 tons of mass into orbit, it seems like assembling a nuclear-powered space tug in space, piece by piece, is a better option than traveling by chemical propulsion instead. And since Starship will be fully reusable, it could be done relatively cheaply.

We could credibly build the types of ships seen in Ridley Scott's _Alien_ series. The ships would have to stay in space, though, while chemically propelled ships would have to ferry people to and from the surface of a planet. If the planetary infrastructure of whatever world people travel to doesn't yet exist to shuttle people in this manner (i.e., no existing spaceports), then maybe a dedicated hangar bay on-board the space tug, packed with several mini Starships (think dropships), could do the trick.

But I'm really just letting my imagination run wild here. I'd love to see what real-world solutions they come up with.

The_Isaiahnator