Could nuclear engines transform deep-space exploration?
As space exploration technologies accelerate, an engine that can traverse deep space equally fast is needed- and nuclear engines could be the answer. For decades, spacecraft have relied largely on chemical rockets to make the major manoeuvres needed to leave Earth and travel between planets. That approach has enabled missions across the Solar System, but it comes with a fundamental limitation: carrying the large quantities of fuel and oxidiser required for high-thrust propulsion adds mass and constrains what a spacecraft can do. Nuclear propulsion is being investigated as one way to break that constraint. NASA is developing both nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) and nuclear electric propulsion (NEP), while the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently completed studies examining nuclear systems for missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The attraction is not simply greater speed. Nuclear systems could combine high energy density with more efficient use of propellant, potentially allowing spacecraft to carry more useful payload, spend less time in transit and operate farther from the Sun. But turning those advantages into operational spacecraft remains …
