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The project, in concert with US government agency DARPA, aims to develop pioneering propulsion system for space travel as soon as 2027:
The project is intended to develop a pioneering propulsion system for space travel far different from the chemical systems prevalent since the modern era of rocketry dawned almost a century ago.
"Using a nuclear thermal rocket allows for faster transit time, reducing risk for astronauts," Nasa said in a press release.
[...] Using current technology, Nasa says, the 300m-mile journey to Mars would take about seven months. Engineers do not yet know how much time could be shaved off using nuclear technology, but Bill Nelson, the Nasa administrator, said it would allow spacecraft, and humans, to travel in deep space at record speed.
[...] Using low thrust efficiently, nuclear electric propulsion systems accelerate spacecraft for extended periods and can propel a Mars mission for a fraction of the propellant of high-thrust systems.
Also at CNN and Engadget. Link to Nasa press release.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Immerman on Friday January 27, @03:55PM
Keep in mind that the primary use-case for nuclear engines is interplanetary flights: Where a safe return trajectory is not an option[1], and the desire for more speed is almost entirely because space radiation and microgravity are both slowly killing and crippling your passengers the entire time they're in transit.
We're going to be putting these on passenger craft just as soon as we're sure they're reliable - there's no reason not to.
They'll also be nice for more cheaply getting big payloads there "eventually", but the high-efficiency Hohmann Transfer Orbit route is locked at... I think it's around 9 months between Earth and Mars, regardless of engine type used.
[1] there's no trajectory between Earth and Mars that, if the "arrrival burn" at the other planet fails, will pass anywhere close to either planet again for a few years. At which point it's probably far to late to rescue anyone. And a fast trajectory will be even worse - it could be decades before it approaches either planet again.
It's easy for the moon, since any transfer orbit that's not stopped in lunar orbit is still in Earth orbit and will immediately loop back to Earth. But for interplanetary flights a "miss" will remain in orbit around the sun, with an orbital period that doesn't coincide with either Earth or Mars, so when it next passes either of the planet's orbits, the planets themselves will be nowhere remotely nearby.