This relatively long transit time is a result of the use of traditional chemical rocket fuel. An alternative technology to the chemically propelled rockets the agency develops now is called nuclear ...

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) just hit a massive milestone that could alter the future of space exploration. The company has successfully trialed a nuclear fuel that could one day ...

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory achieved a significant propulsion milestone when a Draper rocket engine reached supersonic flight conditions during a controlled test. The trial, conducted at ...

NASA plans to send crewed missions to Mars over the next decade – but the 140 million-mile (225 million-kilometer) journey to the red planet could take several months to years round trip. This ...

How can nuclear propulsion help improve deep space missions by significantly reducing the amount of time to reach Mars and beyond? This is what a recent study published in Acta Astronautica hopes to ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New developments in nuclear thermal propulsion technologies may soon enable advanced space missions to the farthest reaches of the solar system. Leading these advances are researchers ...

The best, in fact, the only, candidate for this is the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system or nuclear rocket. First conceived of in 1945, this is a rocket that replaces burning chemical fuel with ...

The USA's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has finalised an agreement with Lockheed Martin to begin work on the fabrication and design of an experimental nuclear thermal rocket and its engine ...

Lockheed Martin and partner BWX Technologies were on contract to develop a nuclear thermal rocket through the DARPA-NASA DRACO program. Credit: Lockheed Martin NASA’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget would ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...