Summary
This Request for Information (RFI) from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO) seeks to identify sources capable of providing innovative and revolutionary solutions for space qualified nuclear thermal rocket propulsion engine design, development, modeling and simulation, engine integration, autonomous engine and reactor control, engine instrumentation, and engine system integration.
Engine system integration includes consideration of the required safety analysis needed to obtain nuclear launch authorization from the Department of Defense (DoD).
DARPA, in partnership with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is currently developing a space qualified nuclear thermal rocket engine (NTRE) under the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program.
The DRACO NTRE consists of a first-of-a-kind, compact, ultra-high temperature, high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fueled, flow-through nuclear reactor; engine control electronics; autonomous control software for the reactor and engine; and interfaces (structural, thermal, etc.) to enable integration into a spacecraft for demonstration in a nuclear safe orbit.