Democracy Dies in Darkness

NASA and DARPA are working on a nuclear-powered rocket that could go to Mars

The technology would also have significant national security implications

By
February 3, 2023 at 11:03 a.m. EST
Frosty-white ice clouds and orange dust storms float above a rusty landscape on Mars, June 26, 2001, in a view obtained by an Earth-based telescope. (NASA/Getty Images)
5 min

When NASA’s Orion spacecraft returned to Earth from its trip around the moon last month, it was moving blazingly fast, nearly 25,000 mph, or 32 times the speed of sound.

On a trip to the moon, a mere 240,000 miles away, that’s a fine speed. For Mars, it’s painfully slow.