Last week, at an event dubbed “Ignition,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman shocked the planetary science community when he announced a December 2028 mission to Mars. It wasn’t simply because of its ambitious timeline, but because the spacecraft would carry a fission reactor—the first test of space nuclear propulsion in more than 60 years…
For planetary science, NEP would be “game-changing,” says Tanya Harrison, a planetary scientist at the University of British Columbia’s Outer Space Institute. “You’re not spending your whole career waiting for your spacecraft just to get to your final destination.”
Read more: History and mystery surround NASA’s 2028 nuclear Mars mission by Hannah Richter