Agencies crank up the thrust on DRACO. NASA and DARPA have announced a faster timeline for DRACO (“Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations”), a nuclear propulsion concept that could produce a huge step forward for in-space travel. Now targeting a 2027 test in space, the ultimate goal is to use DRACO to get to Mars and elsewhere in the solar system faster and with far more efficiency than chemical rockets allow.
Space-based nuclear propulsion has a huge advantage over conventional chemical propulsion, primarily because it requires far less fuel mass, and provides higher specific impulse and the ability for continuous as opposed to ‘bursting’ thrust over long time durations. Once a conventional rocket (Falcon 9 or Vulcan) launches to an altitude between 434 and 1,242 miles up (700 and 2,000 km), NASA will switch on the nuclear reactor aboard. LFG NASA and DARPA (and Lockheed and BWX Technologies, who are also attached to this mission). (Space.com) (Ars Technica
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