NASA Picks 3 Firms To Develop Nuclear Propulsion Plans For Deep Space Exploration

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2021) Three US companies will receive grants of $5 million each to develop conceptual designs for nuclear propulsion technology that could send spacecraft to Mars and beyond, NASA said on Tuesday.

"Nuclear propulsion provides greater propellant efficiency as compared with chemical rockets. It's a potential technology for crew and cargo missions to Mars and science missions to the outer solar system, enabling faster and more robust missions in many cases," NASA said in a press release.

NASA, in collaboration with the Energy Department's Idaho National Laboratory (INL), chose the three firms to receive $5 million to develop plans for space-based nuclear reactors - BWX Technologies, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, and Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies.

The proposed technology would use power from a reactor to heat a liquid propellant into gas, which would expand through a nozzle to provide thrust, the release said.

In theory, the systems could provide high thrust and twice the propellant efficiency of conventional rockets, according to NASA.