I’ve grown up with rockets that burn chemical fuel, but NASA’s next big leap in propulsion could make those engines look as dated as steam trains. By turning to nuclear power in space, the agency is ...

Of course, a nuclear power plant for an instrument isn’t the same as a nuclear engine, but the challenges of working with the dangerous material remain. And yet, this won’t be the first time the space ...

New details of the Trump administration’s plans for NASA, released Friday, revealed the White House’s desire to end the development of an experimental nuclear thermal rocket engine that could have ...

Getting to Mars takes a really long time, about nine months using today's rocket technology. This is because regular rocket engines burn fuel and oxygen together (like a car engine), but they're not ...

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) has stood as a promising potential alternative propulsion technology for decades. Chemical rockets have begun to reach their theoretical maximum efficiency, and their ...

What began as a napkin sketch might open up interplanetary exploration ...

Jim Bickford is leading the Thin Film Isotope Nuclear Engine Rocket (TFINER) project to develop a system for propelling a craft through space faster and farther than ever before. This technology has ...

CycloKinetics is testing its alternative rocket fuel with Venus Aerospace in a rotating detonation ...

UK space propulsion company Pulsar Fusion has conducted the first test of a prototype exhaust system for a nuclear fusion rocket engine that could dramatically cut transit times for missions to Mars ...

Scientists have developed a new form of nuclear propulsion that they claim could slash mission times to Mars and enable voyages to the farthest reaches of the solar system. A team from Ohio State ...

Welcome to Edition 7.47 of the Rocket Report! Let’s hope not, but the quarrel between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk may be remembered as “Black Thursday” for the US space program. A simmering ...