Mighty Space Launch System (SLS) missiles will soon be in space, but for NASA, chemical propulsion may not be sufficient for fast and effective colonization of the Red Planet. The agency is more and more interested in the technologies of nuclear propulsors abandoned during the Earth War.
Recently NASA has presented and is already testing compact nuclear reactors called Kilopower, which will provide the necessary electricity to the first colonists of Mars, and now we find out that the agency has started cooperation with the American company BWXT Nuclear Energy Inc.
It specializes in creating the technology of highly efficient nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP). The advantage of such a drive is the low enriched uranium (LEU) used in it. Such a fuel is not only safer to operate and poses less risk in the event of a failure, but it is also much easier to produce. The advantage is also the possibility of carrying much heavier loads, because a rocket equipped with such a drive weighs less than the standard one.
NASA plans to popularize nuclear propulsion and compact reactors at the turn of the 20s and 30s, when the plans for the first manned mission to Mars will enter a decisive phase. With the help of this type of rocket, the flight to the Red Planet will last several or a dozen days, not six months.
The only question is what companies such as SpaceX or Blue Origin will do in such a case, in plans that there is no mention of rockets with such a drive. They will probably have to verify their visions or offer slightly longer flights, but much cheaper, due to the recycling of individual elements of their rockets.
Let us remind you that China is also interested in nuclear drives. CNSA in its space exploration program for the coming decades is considering the construction of not only rockets, but also large spacecraft with such a propulsion system