Revolutionary nuclear rocket technology could cut Mars travel to 3 months

Researchers have developed a game-changing form of nuclear propulsion in a bid to reduce mission times to Mars and revolutionize interplanetary exploration in a recent breakthrough.

The team of scientists from Ohio State University has unveiled a design based on Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket (CNTR) that will offer unprecedented speed and efficiency over conventional rockets and other nuclear propulsion engines.

The scientists leveraged liquid uranium to directly heat rocket propellant, helping the rocket to travel faster with less fuel.

As per researchers’ findings, the CNTR system could slash Mars travel times by up to 25 percent, enabling round-trip missions within a single year.

Dean Wang, an associate professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ohio State said, “In recent years, there has been quite an increased interest in nuclear thermal propulsion technology as we contemplate returning humans to the moon and working in cis-lunar space.”

According to Spencer Christian, a PhD student in engineering at Ohio State, "You could have a safe one-way trip to Mars in six months, for example, as opposed to doing the same mission in a year.”

Partly funded by NASA, the study also shed light on different types of propellant that could revolutionize space travel by equipping next-gen engines with chemical compounds like methane.

However, the recent study is not bereft of technical challenges that would take around 5 years to overcome these issues related to technology.

In the case of unprecedented success, human missions to Mars would be reduced to single years as compared to three years. Moreover, it will also pave the way for futuristic robotic missions on planets like Neptune and Saturn.