The head of the US space agency said on Tuesday that the United States plans to test a nuclear fission-powered spacecraft engine by 2027 as part of NASA’s long-term efforts to show more efficient ways to propel astronauts to Mars in the future.
NASA will partner with the US Army’s research and development agency, DARPA, to develop a nuclear heat propulsion engine and launch it into space “as soon as possible by 2027,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson during a conference in National Harbor, Maryland.