DARPA moving forward with development of nuclear powered spacecraft

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Flyaway

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on May 4 issued a solicitation for proposals for the next phase of a demonstration of a nuclear powered spacecraft.

The project, called Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO), started over a year ago when DARPA selected a preliminary design for a rocket engine reactor developed by General Atomics, and chose two conceptual spacecraft designs by Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin.

The next phases of the program will focus on the design, development, fabrication and assembly of a nuclear thermal rocket engine. DARPA will conduct a “full and open competition” so this opportunity is not limited to the companies that participated in the first phase, a spokesperson told SpaceNews. Proposals are due Aug. 5.
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Seems to have quite an early proposed flight date of fiscal year 2026.

spacenews.com

DARPA moving forward with development of nuclear powered spacecraft - SpaceNews

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on May 4 issued a solicitation for proposals for the next phase of a demonstration of a nuclear powered spacecraft.
spacenews.com spacenews.com
 
Rather than start a new thread I’ll put this here.

Op-ed | It’s Time for Congress to Order the Nuclear Option

As NASA finally launches the first Space Launch System (SLS) mission, America is failing to invest in critical space propulsion technology needed to send astronauts to Mars.

The United States must develop space nuclear propulsion technologies to enable 21st-century human missions to Mars. Congress should immediately direct NASA and the Department of Energy to partner with a University Affiliated Research Center or Federally Funded Research and Development Center to create a new National Space Nuclear Propulsion Laboratory.

It is naive and against national interests for the U.S. to rely on expensive, outdated, slow, single-use chemically propelled rockets like SLS to transport astronauts to Mars. Instead, America must aggressively invest in developing space nuclear propulsion systems.
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Wow, the US military are now considering a nuclear powered aircraft again, I thought that after the last time they tried nuclear powered aircraft, the program got cancelled. I can see this new program going the same way.
 
On a related note:
news.slashdot.org

US To Test Nuclear-powered Spacecraft by 2027 - Slashdot

The United States plans to test a spacecraft engine powered by nuclear fission by 2027 as part of a long-term NASA effort to demonstrate more efficient methods of propelling astronauts to Mars in the future, the space agency's chief said Tuesday. From a report: NASA will partner with the U.S...
news.slashdot.org
 
Grey Havoc said:
On a related note:
news.slashdot.org

US To Test Nuclear-powered Spacecraft by 2027 - Slashdot

The United States plans to test a spacecraft engine powered by nuclear fission by 2027 as part of a long-term NASA effort to demonstrate more efficient methods of propelling astronauts to Mars in the future, the space agency's chief said Tuesday. From a report: NASA will partner with the U.S...
news.slashdot.org
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Disappointed but not surprised that they're going nuclear thermal rather than nuclear electric. It will be interesting to watch regardless.
 
Moose said:
Grey Havoc said:
On a related note:
news.slashdot.org

US To Test Nuclear-powered Spacecraft by 2027 - Slashdot

The United States plans to test a spacecraft engine powered by nuclear fission by 2027 as part of a long-term NASA effort to demonstrate more efficient methods of propelling astronauts to Mars in the future, the space agency's chief said Tuesday. From a report: NASA will partner with the U.S...
news.slashdot.org
Click to expand...
Disappointed but not surprised that they're going nuclear thermal rather than nuclear electric. It will be interesting to watch regardless.
Click to expand...
I remember seeing a VaSIMR mission profile with the main spacecraft spiralling out very slowly even at it's lowest isp/highest thrust and consequently spending a lot of time in the Van Allen belts. Crew would be launched in an Orion to rendezvous once it had reached high orbit, which makes manned missions in cislunar space complicated. Also, I gather, ion and plasma really only come into their own for manned missions at interplanetary ranges and timescales. So apparently, nuclear-thermal is best for cislunar applications in the near term and nuclear-electric for interplanetary missions in the long term.
 
Rhinocrates said:
Moose said:
Grey Havoc said:
On a related note:
news.slashdot.org

US To Test Nuclear-powered Spacecraft by 2027 - Slashdot

The United States plans to test a spacecraft engine powered by nuclear fission by 2027 as part of a long-term NASA effort to demonstrate more efficient methods of propelling astronauts to Mars in the future, the space agency's chief said Tuesday. From a report: NASA will partner with the U.S...
news.slashdot.org
Click to expand...
Disappointed but not surprised that they're going nuclear thermal rather than nuclear electric. It will be interesting to watch regardless.
Click to expand...
I remember seeing a VaSIMR mission profile with the main spacecraft spiralling out very slowly even at it's lowest isp/highest thrust and consequently spending a lot of time in the Van Allen belts. Crew would be launched in an Orion to rendezvous once it had reached high orbit, which makes manned missions in cislunar space complicated. Also, I gather, ion and plasma really only come into their own for manned missions at interplanetary ranges and timescales. So apparently, nuclear-thermal is best for cislunar applications in the near term and nuclear-electric for interplanetary missions in the long term.
Click to expand...
There are work-arounds for long exposure, including boosting the crew separately to meet the vehicle after it is beyond the belt or using a high-thrust chemical stage to boost the spacecraft on its initial leg. The immense radiation hazard of NTP, which makes any kind of rendezvous mission treacherous, doesn't go away easily.
 
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I wonder if that could be used to extend RTG service life…freshening it.
 
One work-around actually is to recruit smokers and not give them any cigarettes for the journey. Provided they don't kill each other, their life expectancies will increase.
 
Sam.gov: Nuclear Thermal Rocket Propulsion RFI [Dec 13]

This Request for Information (RFI) from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO) seeks to identify sources capable of providing innovative and revolutionary solutions for space qualified nuclear thermal rocket propulsion engine design, development, modeling and simulation, engine integration, autonomous engine and reactor control, engine instrumentation, and engine system integration. Engine system integration includes consideration of the required safety analysis needed to obtain nuclear launch authorization from the Department of Defense (DoD).

Updated Response Date: Jan 21, 2025 04:00 pm EST
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File under 'You didn't think of that?!'

Nuclear Reactor Test Requirements Put DRACO Launch Plans On Hold | Aviation Week Network

DARPA and NASA’s nuclear thermal propulsion project will miss its scheduled 2027 testing time frame, as its development has proven trickier than anticipated.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com

The team, including BWX Technologies (BWXT) and Lockheed Martin, hit snags in designing an engine that can be ground-tested safely while adhering to the protocols necessary to test a nuclear reactor, Matthew Sambora, one of two DRACO program managers in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, tells Aviation Week.

The U.S. has not launched a reactor since the 1960s, an era euphemistically referred to as “the time before safety was invented,” says Jim Shoemaker, DARPA’s second DRACO program manager. Scientists in the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications program conducted six ground tests of radioactive reactors in open air between 1964 and 1969, “which we could never get approved to do today,” Shoemaker notes.
 

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