As NASA directs its focus back to the Moon and sets ambitious goals for Mars and beyond in the coming decades, the agency is reevaluating the methods of space travel to reach these destinations.

In collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NASA has embarked on a project to develop a nuclear-powered rocket specifically designed for long-distance space missions.

This joint effort, known as DRACO (Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations), has now entered the design phase, as per a DARPA press release, Gizmodo has reported.

Lockheed Martin has been chosen to lead the development of the demonstration rocket, and they will be working alongside BWX Technologies, which will contribute to the design and conduct testing of the nuclear thermal rocket engine (NTR).

BWXT, the collaborator, will provide the reactor and its high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel for the DRACO project.

According to BWXT’s press release, the DRACO test rocket is scheduled for launch in 2027. During this test, a conventional rocket will carry DRACO into space with the reactor turned off.

Once the rocket reaches an altitude above low Earth orbit, mission controllers will activate the reactor.

NASA has previously described the engine as utilizing a fission reactor to generate high temperatures that heat a liquid propellant.

This propellant then expands and is expelled through a nozzle, propelling the spacecraft.

Notably, NASA has indicated that the nuclear thermal engine could be significantly more efficient, potentially three times or more, than traditional chemical propulsion, as mentioned in a January press release.

Written by staff