Long before any spacecraft can attempt a faster journey to Mars, scientists must first solve one of space exploration’s biggest challenges: propulsion. Chemical rockets, used to launch spacecraft into ...

We’ve been talking about going to Mars for decades, but we haven’t yet cracked how to get people there and back safely and in a reasonable amount of time. The problem is one of distance and the ...

Forward-looking: Scientists have long envisioned nuclear electric propulsion as a transformative technology for unlocking the potential of solar system exploration. Now, two companies making steady ...

Human crews headed for Mars are still looking at journeys that last most of a year, long enough for radiation, boredom and mechanical risk to pile up. Nuclear propulsion promises to compress that ...