All articles tagged with #space nuclear propulsion
NASA officials, after touring Idaho National Laboratory where the mission’s reactor is being built, remain confident in launching a nuclear electric propulsion demonstration by the end of 2028.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory tested a lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster that ran up to 120 kilowatts—about 25 times more powerful than the Psyche mission’s ion engine—accruing five test firings. The team aims to push power toward 0.5–1 megawatt soon and ultimately several megawatts, enabling crews-to-Mars scenarios powered by space-based nuclear energy (Space Reactor-1 Freedom). Unlike traditional solar-powered ion engines, this approach could operate far from the Sun, paving the way for a future armada of high-power ion engines for crewed Mars missions.