Nuclear-powered spaceships

A new era of spaceflight could save astronauts time and cut exposure to cosmic radiation as they rocket to Mars--and beyond. Just before the Artemis II crew began its historic slingshot around the moon this past April, NASA announced plans to build Space Reactor-1 Freedom. SR-1, the first-ever nuclear-reactor-powered interplanetary spacecraft, is meant to fly an uncrewed mission to Mars by the end of 2028, arriving in 2029. A successful mission would herald a new era of more efficient, potentially faster spaceflight--saving astronauts time and cutting their exposure to harmful cosmic radiation as they travel to Mars and beyond. "You wake up to that announcement, and it puts a big smile on your face," says Simon Middleburgh, co-director of the Nuclear Futures Institute at Bangor University in Wales. Running a nuclear reactor in space may sound like lunacy, but it's not.