The $499 million mission will be the first test in orbit of a nuclear spacecraft, NASA announced.
The U.S. plans to launch the world's first nuclear-powered spacecraft into orbit as early as 2025, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have announced.
The agencies, which have partnered to develop the rocket, announced on July 26 that they had reached an agreement with the U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin to design, build and test the prototype.
The proposed nuclear system, on the other hand, will harness the chain reaction from ripping apart atoms to power the spacecraft. The nuclear fission reactor will be"three or more times more efficient" and could reduce Mars flight times to a fraction of the current seven months, NASA said. NASA began its research into nuclear thermal engines in 1959, eventually leading to the design and construction of the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application , a solid-core nuclear reactor that was successfully tested on Earth. Plans to fire the engine in space, however, were scrapped following the end of the Apollo missions in 1973 and a sharp reduction in the program's funding.
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