Experts Ponder Nuclear Rockets To Send Humans To Mars

When NASA's Perseverance rover touched down on the Martian surface last week, humans cheered from the confines of planet Earth.

But if the space agency or others hope to leave and send astronauts to Mars, experts say they need to consider a technology that was studied decades ago but never fully developed: nuclear-powered rockets.

"If we decide to send humans to Mars, nuclear propulsion is likely to be central to that journey," says Roger Myers, an independent aerospace consultant and co-chair of a panel convened by the National Academies to study nuclear propulsion.

A new report out from Myers and his colleagues suggests that NASA should begin studying nuclear propulsion now, if it hopes to use it in a Mars mission in 2039. Although NASA does spend some money studying the technology, Myers says, funding is "going to have to be ramped up significantly if we're going to hit 2039."

The idea of using nuclear reactors for propulsion dates back to the earliest days of the U.S. space program. In the 1950s and 1960s, scientists with what was then called the Atomic Energy Commission developed a series of nuclear rockets. The program was conducted in collaboration for NASA and developed working prototypes. But it was cancelled in the early 1970s, after it became clear the missions for which it was needed, to travel to Mars and the moon, were unlikely to go forward.