NASA is forging a nuclear path to Mars

While NASA, along with its international and commercial partners, is going pedal to the metal back to the moon, the space agency is not neglecting Mars. In 2028, if all goes well, NASA plans to test a new technology that could reduce trip times to the Red Planet and open it up to exploration and, perhaps, human settlement.

NASA is developing Space Reactor-1 Freedom, a nuclear-powered spacecraft designed to deliver three helicopters called Skyfall to Mars. The idea is similar to the Ingenuity copter that went to the Red Planet as part of the Perseverance rover mission in 2021. Once there, the Skyfall helicopters could scout out possible landing sites for future human missions to Mars.

The mission was part of a wider announcement by the space agency called Ignition, released in March.

Space Reactor-1 Freedom is a nuclear electric rocket, which means that it ionizes a propellant such as xenon with electricity. This provides a slow but steady thrust that eventually accelerates a spacecraft faster than an ordinary chemical rocket. It would be launched by a conventional rocket into space before firing its nuclear electric engine.

NASA has already flown solar-powered electric rockets, such as the Psyche mission, currently on its way to the metal-rich main belt asteroid, 16 Psyche. Nuclear electric power has one decided advantage over solar power in that it is more useful for deep space missions where the light of the sun is dimmer than in the inner solar system.

NASA has been working on nuclear propulsion since the 1960s. Nuclear Engine for Rocket........

© The Hill