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Nuclear rockets could travel to Mars in half the time − but designing the reactors that would power them isn’t easy

  • Written by Dan Kotlyar, Associate Professor of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Nuclear rockets could travel to Mars in half the time − but designing the reactors that would power them isn’t easyNuclear-powered rockets could one day enable faster space travel. NASA

NASA plans to send crewed missions to Mars over the next decade – but the 140 million-mile (225 million-kilometer) journey to the red planet could take several months to years round trip.

This relatively long transit time is a result of the use of traditional chemical...

Read more: Nuclear rockets could travel to Mars in half the time − but designing the reactors that would...

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