These technologies offered a path to liberation from energy scarcity and gravity, and together they promised to open up the solar system for human exploration.
More than a decade before there were bootprints on the moon, NASA recognized the enormous potential for nuclear energy in spaceflight. Despite some early promising tests, NASA’s dream of a nuclear-powered Mars rocket never came to pass. But now, more than half a century later, a startup in Maryland is bringing the concept to life.
