Space Race 2.0
Nuclear-powered spacecraft have the potential to significantly reduce travel times to Mars and beyond.
Last year, NASA and DARPA awarded Lockheed Martin a $499 million contract to develop the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO). This project employs several innovations to navigate regulations related to nuclear testing and aims to help the US maintain its lead over China’s rapidly advancing space sector.
The DRACO rocket, designed to be approximately 49 feet long and 17.7 feet in diameter, will be launched using the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket, which had its maiden flight in January this year.
Nuclear rockets could drastically cut travel times to Mars, potentially reducing the journey from six or seven months to around three months. Shorter travel times would benefit astronaut health by reducing exposure to harmful cosmic radiation and enabling quicker return trips, aligning with the optimal Mars-Earth windows.
A New Fuel
The concept of nuclear thermal rockets dates back to the US Air Force’s Rover program in the mid-1950s, which remained experimental.
Instead of weapons-grade uranium, which poses significant risks in the event of a launch failure, DRACO will utilize high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). HALEU, enriched to less than 20 percent, meets stringent security requirements for on-ground testing, as reported by Ars Technica.
If successful, NASA and DARPA could soon have a nuclear rocket, vastly expanding humanity’s capacity to explore the Solar System.