With existing rocket technologies, it would take roughly seven months to fly a crewed mission to Mars.
A team of engineers from the U.S. Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is developing the technology required to cut that travel time in half.
“Nuclear propulsion can provide the most capable means of delivering large-mass payloads to Mars in the shortest amount of time,” Sebastian Corbisiero, senior technical advisor for advanced concepts at INL, told IE in an interview.
A team of scientists and engineers at the U.S. Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) holds the outcome of a new space race in its hands.
The team is spearheading a nationwide effort to develop a nuclear thermal propulsion spacecraft that could cut the travel time to Mars in half. It’s a project that could dramatically alter the course of humanity, making us an interplanetary species capable of sustainably sending humans to the Red Planet.
How nuclear thermal propulsion offers healthier astronauts
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