Nuclear-powered spacecraft It could be the ultimate space race vehicle of this century. Concepts and designs for reactor-equipped rockets have existed for more than 50 years, but have never left the experimental stage. Despite ambitions to boldly go where no one has gone before, the U.S.’s latest effort to achieve nuclear propulsion is to gain an advantage over the country. new adversary in orbit, the people of the Republic of China.
The latest nuclear rocket project began in 2023, when NASA and DARPA awarded Lockheed Martin the a contract worth US$499 million to build the demonstration rocket for cislunar agile operations. DRACO, a very catchy acronym, will be about 49 feet long and 17.7 feet in diameter to fit on the Vulcan Centaur rocket that will lift it from the surface. Centauro will soon be the launch vehicle for the Boeing Starliner. Ars Technique laid out the DRACO case that US Space Command presented to Congress:
DARPA’s website states that it has always maintained a singular mission of making investments in innovative technologies for national security. What does a nuclear-powered spacecraft have to do with national security? The military’s perspective was suggested by US Space Command officer General James Dickinson in his testimony before Congress in April 2021.
He said that “Beijing seeks space superiority through space strike systems” and mentioned intelligence gathered on Shijian-17, a Chinese satellite equipped with a robotic arm that could be used to “grab other satellites.” This may seem like a ridiculous exaggeration, but it was enough to give the green light for a nuclear spacecraft.
The appeal of nuclear-powered rockets is their efficiency. They are twice as efficient as traditional chemical rockets because they only need to carry hydrogen as fuel and do not need an oxidizer to create ignition in the vacuum of space. This efficiency can be used to achieve extremely high speeds. DRACO aims to be a test bed for rapid response rockets between the Earth and the Moon, a military deterrent in space.
There’s just one problem. The rocket needs to transport fissile material to the reactor, weapons-grade uranium. DRACO will use high-enriched, low-enriched uranium (HALEU), a new fuel with a lower enrichment level that is much more difficult to build into a nuclear weapon. The use of the rocket must not pose a risk to the public because the Centaur’s chemical rocket will be used to lift it off the platform.
Ignoring the impending death of the International Space Station, it’s hard not to be excited about space exploration right now. NASA Artemis Program is about to return definitively to the Moon with an outpost on the surface and a station in lunar orbit. From there, Mars and the rest of the Solar System could be next on the agenda.
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