NASA and the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have selected Lockheed Martin and BWX Technologies to move forward with development of a nuclear thermal rocket, or NTR, that could blaze a trail for future missions to the moon and Mars.
The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or DRACO, is slated for launch in 2027.
“The DRACO program aims to give the nation leap-ahead propulsion capability,” Tabitha Dodson, DARPA’s program manager for the effort, said today in a news release. “An NTR achieves high thrust similar to in-space chemical propulsion but is two to three times more efficient. With a successful demonstration, we could significantly advance humanity’s means for going faster and farther in space and pave the way for the future deployment for all fission-based nuclear space technologies.”
Dodson told reporters that NASA and DARPA will go 50-50 on the $499 million cost of the project. The two agencies have been working together on the rocket development effort since January.
Lockheed Martin will work on the spacecraft for the demonstration — known as the experimental nuclear thermal rocket vehicle, or X-NTRV. Meanwhile, BWX Technologies will focus on building the nuclear reactor and fabricating the high-assay, low-enriched uranium fuel from material provided by the U.S. Department of Energy.
NASA said its Space Technology Mission Directorate will be responsible for the overall management and execution of the nuclear-powered DRACO engine.
“Working with DARPA and companies across the commercial space industry will enable us to accelerate the technology development we need to send humans to Mars,” NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said in a news release. “This demonstration will be a crucial step in meeting our Moon to Mars objectives for crew transportation into deep space.”
As a safety measure, Lockheed Martin’s X-NTRV will fire up its nuclear rocket engine only after it’s sent into orbit by a conventional rocket, which will be provided through the auspices of the U.S. Space Force. The nuclear thermal engine would be used to heat up hydrogen propellant and shoot the pressurized gas through X-NTRV’s nozzle.
The DRACO demonstration would take place exclusively in Earth orbit — but if nuclear thermal propulsion works out as well as NASA and DARPA hope, it could be incorporated in future generations of rockets.
“These more powerful and efficient nuclear thermal propulsion systems can provide faster transit times between destinations. Reducing transit time is vital for human missions to Mars to limit a crew’s exposure to radiation,” Kirk Shireman, vice president of Lunar Exploration Campaigns at Lockheed Martin Space, said in a news release.
Nuclear thermal propulsion could be used for much more than Mars. “This is a prime technology that can be used to transport humans and materials to the moon,” Shireman said. “A safe, reusable nuclear tug spacecraft would revolutionize cislunar operations. With more speed, agility and maneuverability, nuclear thermal propulsion also has many national security applications for cislunar space.”
Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Jeff Bezos, and Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies had been involved in the first phase of the DRACO project, when DARPA was solely in charge.
It’s not clear whether those companies sought continuing roles in DRACO’s Phase 2, but Blue Origin just might be a future beneficiary of the work on DRACO. Lockheed Martin has agreed to provide a cislunar transporter system for refueling Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar lander — and it’s not inconceivable that such transport spacecraft could use a DRACO-style nuclear engine for propulsion.
