NASA and the US plan to develop nuclear power for future manned missions to Mars

The US space agency NASA, in cooperation with the US Department of Defense, plans to develop a nuclear thermal rocket engine for future manned missions to Mars.

NASA with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to develop and test “advanced nuclear thermal propulsion technology” by 2027, it announced on Tuesday.

Such technology could allow astronauts to travel much faster into space, which in turn could enable manned missions to Mars in the future, said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Nuclear thermal propulsion technology, which has already been tested, uses a special nuclear reactor to create extremely high temperatures that are then fed into the fuel.