For decades, nuclear propulsion has been a fixture of aerospace engineering proposals and government studies, always promising, never quite leaving the laboratory. That changes in 2028.

For more than sixty years, chemical rockets have powered nearly every major space mission, from the Apollo Moon landings to robotic probes exploring the outer planets. These rockets rely on rapid ...

In 2002, NASA initiated a program to explore the use of nuclear power and propulsion systems for both human and robotic activities. By 2004, this activity, Project Prometheus, had acquired five tasks: ...

Every year, companies and space agencies launch hundreds of rockets into space—and that number is set to grow dramatically with ambitious missions to the moon, Mars and beyond. But these dreams hinge ...