Seeking more power NASA

NASA is working on a nuclear rocket. The space agency has signed an $18.8 million contract with BWX Technologies, based in Lynchburg, Virginia, to start developing a nuclear reactor that could power the rockets that some day shuttle people to Mars.

Nuclear thermal propulsion uses a nuclear reaction to heat fuel, generally liquid hydrogen, which expands and shoots out of a rocket nozzle to create thrust. The technology can enable rockets to attain more thrust per unit of fuel than standard rocket engines can. This means only about half as much fuel is required as used in the main engines for the space shuttle programme – the gold standard of rocket engines for the past 40 years.

This high level of efficiency is particularly useful for long flights that would otherwise require lots of heavy fuel – and cutting out some of that fuel on a spacecraft to Mars would allow for more cargo. The high speed allowed by this nuclear technology would also reduce the journey time to the Red Planet from six months to four.


NASA has looked into nuclear thermal propulsion in the past, even getting as far as testing prototype engines on the ground, but stopped testing in 1972 when Congress cancelled a planned Mars mission.

BWX Technologies is expected to use its two-year contract to design a new concept for a nuclear thermal rocket engine and a new type of uranium for use in the engine’s nuclear reactor.

Read more: Nuclear rockets could cut cost of Moon base