NASA has completed over 100 cold-flow tests of a full-scale nuclear rocket reactor prototype, demonstrating stable hydrogen ...

NASA’s push for a new nuclear rocket engine is not just another upgrade to the hardware we strap to the bottom of spacecraft. It is an attempt to rewrite the basic rules of how far, how fast, and how ...

The best, in fact, the only, candidate for this is the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system or nuclear rocket. First conceived of in 1945, this is a rocket that replaces burning chemical fuel with ...

Scientists and engineers are diligently working on innovative concepts to make the next era of human spaceflight more powerful and more efficient using nuclear propulsion. One of these designs, known ...

Viewed from orbit, Jackass Flats — situated in southern Nevada about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas — could easily be confused for Mars. The alluvial basin is full of tan and gray regolith, hued ...

Introduction -- Rocket engine fundamentals -- Nuclear rocket engine cycles -- Interplanetary mission analysis -- Basic nuclear structure and processes -- Neutron flux energy distribution -- Neutron ...

Jim Bickford is leading the Thin Film Isotope Nuclear Engine Rocket (TFINER) project to develop a system for propelling a craft through space faster and farther than ever before. This technology has ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The first ground experimental nuclear rocket engine (XE) assembly. Credit: AEC-NASA. (The first ground experimental nuclear rocket ...

Forward-looking: Scientists have long envisioned nuclear electric propulsion as a transformative technology for unlocking the potential of solar system exploration. Now, two companies making steady ...

I’ve grown up with rockets that burn chemical fuel, but NASA’s next big leap in propulsion could make those engines look as dated as steam trains. By turning to nuclear power in space, the agency is ...