NASA and DARPA announced they awarded Lockheed Martin and BWX Technologies to build and develop a nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) engine. Lockheed Martin and BWX technologies under DARPA’s DRACO (the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations) program and in partnership with NASA will build t...
" Tabitha Dodson, DRACO program manager at DARPA, said during today's briefing. "This is just as much a demonstration of on-orbit storage of cryogenic liquid hydrogen as it is a demo of the nuclear thermal rocket engine."
One of the bigger questions surrounding NASA’s interest in sending a crewed mission to Mars surrounds the best way to get there, and it appears the agency might have found its answer. NASA announced today that it will be developing a nuclear thermal ... ...
Per the agreement, NASA’sSpace Technology Mission Directorate(STMD) will lead the technical development of the nuclear thermal engine, which will be integrated with the DARPA-built spacecraft. DARPA will lead the overall program as the contracting authority, overseeing rocket systems integration and ...
DARPA expects to choose one provider for the next two phases, which according to aMay 4 solicitationare focused on finalizing the detailed nuclear thermal rocket design and building the spacecraft and its flight engine. Once completed, DARPA plans to conduct an on-orbit demonstrat...
NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will partner on developing a new nuclear thermal rocket engine to be used for space travel. The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program, is a non-reimbursable agreement that outlines roles, responsibilities, an...