On January 24, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced that they will collaborate to develop a nuclear-thermal propulsion rocket system, according to a NASA release.
The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) project is to culminate with a demonstration of the rocket in orbit, anticipated to occur in 2027.
Nuclear propulsion is essential to have meaningful human access to the expanded region of the Solar System. With only chemical rockets, a trip to Mars will take the better part of a year, and can only be easily made every 26 months.
