The NASA_Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, NASA's propulsion center, is looking beyond the moon to speed up what will be a much-longer flight to the nation’s ultimate target of Mars. Nuclear-powered engines could be the way to do that.
The Space Launch System rocket NASA needs to take astronauts all the way to the moon took a giant leap toward proving itself with the first uncrewed flight there in November.
Turpin calls the effort an “all-hands-on-deck activity” with Marshall as the “hub for a lot of different partnerships” exploring nuclear engines. Other NASA centers, the U.S. Department of Energy, industry and universities and colleges are involved, he said. So is the Defense Department that has already developed nuclear engines to propel submarines under the sea.
“It allows flexibility,” he said. “I think it allows rapid and efficient transfers in and probably more capable deep-space science and exploration opportunities.” Faster trips to Mars are “important to things like crew safety and health,” he said. Less time in space means reducing exposure to space radiation and nuclear power could make it easier to get astronauts home.
“It’s important that people understand this is what Huntsville is historically known for and what the center is known for,” Turpin said. And it’s “an all-hands-on-deck activity.”
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