NASA and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have said they plan to launch a nuclear spacecraft into orbit by 2026.

The aim of the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO), which will be developed and built by aerospace company Lockheed Martin, is to perform an in-space test of nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP), which the agencies say has the potential to help humankind to more easily reach Mars and other distant planets by cutting travel times.

The rationale behind the spacecraft’s design is to use heat generated by nuclear thermal rockets which carry small fission reactors applied to a propellant gas, which expands and is funnelled into space through a nozzle to create thrust.
"We're going to put this together, we're going to fly this demonstration, gather a bunch of great data and really, we believe, usher in a new age for the United States [and] for humankind, to support our space exploration mission," Kirk Shireman, vice president of Lockheed Martin Lunar Exploration Campaigns, said during a press conference.

The team expects DRACO to operate in orbit for a few months, with the project solely focusing on the use of its NTP engine and demonstrating that it can work for long stretches in the space environment.

However, another test will lie in the spacecraft’s ability to store around 2,000 kilograms of liquid hydrogen, which is needed for the NTP engine to work at extremely cold temperatures.

"Our life-limiting factor is how long we can keep the hydrogen cryogenic," said Tabitha Dodson, DRACO programme manager at DARPA. "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."

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