A new test of nuclear propellant fuel under space-like conditions has been hailed as a success by NASA and General Atomics ...

NASA and General Atomics tested the fuel by exposing it to temperatures up to 3,000 Kelvin (4,940 Fahrenheit or 2,727 Celsius ...

Angry Astronaut and Nextbigfuture commenter are making the case that SpaceX and Elon Musk must switch to nuclear thermal rockets to colonize Mars. I will review that the nuclear thermal rocket program ...

An alternative technology to the chemically propelled rockets the agency develops now is called nuclear thermal propulsion, which uses nuclear fission and could one day power a rocket that makes ...

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 ...

NASA is working on a groundbreaking nuclear electric propulsion system that could dramatically speed up trips to Mars. The ...

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs. NASA and the European Space Agency, in addition to other space agencies, have been ...

The demonstration rocket’s engine reactor remains in ... Osorio says that “qualifying an operational nuclear thermal propulsion engine for space transportation will require a ground-test ...

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 ...

As the heated propellant expands, it’s ultimately exhausted out of a nozzle in much the same way as in a traditional rocket. It’s also similar to the concept of nuclear thermal propulsion ...

General Atomics, for instance, is looking into how nuclear fuel can survive "after thermal cycling in hydrogen ... three times more effectiveness that rocket engines power by chemical propellants.

The tests showed the fuel can withstand the harsh conditions of a nuclear thermal propulsion reactor. In other words, it has the capability to one day power a nuclear rocket that could fire humans ...