Plasma propulsion transforms an inert propellant – often hydrogen – into plasma, a superheated mix of ions and electrons. Magnetic fields then funnel and accelerate the ...

Mars has always felt like a distant neighbor, reachable only after a long, risky cruise through deep space. Now engineers inside NASA are sketching a very different future, one where a nuclear powered ...

NASA engineers have completed first cold-flow tests of a full-scale nuclear thermal propulsion reactor, validating designs ...

Human crews headed for Mars are still looking at journeys that last most of a year, long enough for radiation, boredom and mechanical risk to pile up. Nuclear propulsion promises to compress that ...