Advances collaboration with NASA on nuclear thermal rocket; finalizes Phase 2 agreement
Jul 26, 2023
DARPA, in collaboration with NASA, is advancing toward the goal of the world’s first in-orbit demonstration of a nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) engine via DRACO, the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations. DARPA has finalized an agreement with Lockheed Martin for the company to begin work on the fabrication and design of the experimental NTR vehicle (X-NTRV) and its engine.
“The DRACO program aims to give the nation leap-ahead propulsion capability,” said Dr. Tabitha Dodson, program manager for the effort. “An NTR achieves high thrust similar to in-space chemical propulsion but is two-to-three-times more efficient. With a successful demonstration, we could significantly advance humanity’s means for going faster and farther in space and pave the way for the future deployment for all fission-based nuclear space technologies.”
In January, DARPA and NASA signed an agreement to collaborate on the NTR engine, with a focus on more efficiently and quickly transporting material through the cislunar domain and eventually, people to Mars.
The DRACO program takes advantage of the nation’s early investments in nuclear thermal technology via the previous Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications (NERVA) program, but with a new fuel option that presents fewer logistical hurdles. DARPA is using high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel, made possible via National Security Presidential Memorandum 20 (NSPM-20), which updated U.S. policy for the launch of space nuclear power and propulsion. As an additional safety measure, DARPA will engineer the system so that the engine’s fission reactor will stay turned off until it reaches its designated orbit.
The U.S. Space Force will provide the launch vehicle that will take the X-NTRV into space in 2027. The Department of Energy will provide HALEU metal, to be processed into fuel by the performer. BWX Technologies (BWXT), one of Lockheed Martin’s partners in the effort, will develop the nuclear reactor and fabricate the HALEU fuel.
Media Availability
Representatives from DARPA, NASA, Lockheed Martin, and BWXT will discuss the next steps for DRACO in a virtual media briefing this afternoon, July 26, at 1 p.m. EDT. Participation is limited to reporters actively representing a media outlet and registration is required. Interested media may contact DARPA Public Affairs at outreach@darpa.mil by 12:30 p.m. to receive details to join the discussion.
NASA will stream the audio via nasa.gov/live.
Participants include:
- Dr. Tabitha Dodson, program manager, DARPA
- Dr. Anthony Calomino, space nuclear technologies portfolio manager, NASA
- Kirk Shireman, vice president, Lunar Exploration Campaigns, Lockheed Martin
- Joe Miller, president, BWXT Advanced Technologies