![]() The spacecraft will head to a relatively high orbit around Earth - likely somewhere between 435 and 1,240 miles (700 to 2,000 kilometers), team members said during today's briefing. For example, Lockheed is partnering with the Virginia-based company BWX Technologies, which will develop the DRACO spacecraft's nuclear reactor and produce its HALEU ("high-assay low-enriched uranium") fuel. ![]() But that timetable may have moved up Shireman said in today's briefing that the target launch window at the moment is late 2025 or early 2026. In previous DRACO updates, DARPA and NASA have said they aim to launch the program's first in-space demonstration by 2027. RTGs don't provide propulsion they harness the heat of radioactive decay to generate electricity, which then powers instruments, motors and other spacecraft gear. This process is distinct from the one employed by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), nuclear tech that has been flying aboard probes since the early days of the space age. This heat is then applied to a propellant gas, which expands and is funneled into space through a nozzle to create thrust. Nuclear thermal rockets carry small fission reactors, which release incredible amounts of heat as they split atoms. And it still views nuclear thermal propulsion as a key breakthrough that could make this goal more attainable, by slashing the travel time to and from the Red Planet. NASA is still shooting for the Red Planet, aiming to get astronauts there by the late 2030s or early 2040s. This didn't happen, of course NERVA was canceled in 1972. For example, NASA aimed to launch a crewed Mars mission aboard a nuclear-powered spacecraft by 1979, via a program called NERVA ("Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application"). NASA's involvement shouldn't be surprising the agency's interest in NTP tech goes way back. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) started the program in 2021, and NASA came aboard in early 2023.
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