NASA picks Lockheed Martin to build the nuclear rocket that’ll take us to Mars: NASA and DARPA have chosen aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin to develop a spacecraft with a nuclear thermal rocket engine. Announced in January, the initiative — in which BWX Technologies will provide the reactor and fuel — is dubbed the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO). https://www.engadget.com/nasa-picks-lockheed-martin-to-build-the-nuclear-rocket-thatll-take-us-to-mars-170035659.html
I love that nuclear energy is so dense that it’s more efficient to just superheat hydrogen with a nuclear reactor than it is to actually just burn the hydrogen.