Humans have wanted to expand their lives into space since they first explored it in 1961 through Yuri Gagarin. With Earth's resources dwindling, Mars is seen as a planet that could become humanity's second home. To realize this dream, a new propulsion system needs to be developed to shorten the travel time from Earth to Mars.
The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) project was announced in 2020 by DARPA to develop a nuclear-powered rocket engine. Last week Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract to build the DRACO engine with the goal of having it tested in space as early as 2027. It will not be used to launch rockets from Earth. Instead it will only be turned on shortly after it enters space to continue its journey to Mars.
Through this nuclear thermal propulsion engine (NTP), missions to Mars can be shortened to three months compared to seven months using chemical rocket engines. The fuel carried by the heat from a nuclear reactor offers a specific impulse twice as good as that of a chemical rocket system. Specific impulse is a measure used to calculate the efficiency level of a rocket engine.