A newfangled type of nuclear thermal actuation reactor fuel has been successfully tested at NASA ’s Marshall Space Flight Center , with hopes that the fuel could take homo to Mars in the not - too - distant future .

Getting to the Red Planet , as thing currently stand , will be a longsighted - haul missionary station . Mars is , on average , 140 million mile from Earth . " Rather than a three - mean solar day lunar trip , astronauts hold for Mars would be leaving our planet for roughly three years,“NASA explains , adding that such a missionary post would expect the crowd to be self - sufficient for prospicient periods of the trip .

" face a communicating time lag of up to 20 minutes one way , the theory of equipment nonstarter or aesculapian parking brake , and a vital need to ration food and supplies , cosmonaut must be open of confronting an array of situations with minimal financial backing from teams on Earth . "

NASA – and any others eye up the planet for a human mission – would rather cut this travel time down as much as possible to ensure astronaut safety . Apart from anything else , exposing astronauts to high levels of radiation , gratis from Earth ’s protective atmosphere , is not ideal .

However , we arereaching the limitsof how far and tight we can propel humans – and all the things they need to live – across blank . Traditional chemical propulsion is limited too much by its own mass . It aim a lot of it to get spaceships up to good speeds , and using these method will take at least six month to get to the Red Planet , with a riposte journeying of about the same time .

As such , scientist are looking into other methods of actuation , frompulsed plasmathrusters tosolar sails . One hopeful option is Nuclear Thermal Propulsion ( NTP ) .

" NTP systems work by pumping a smooth propellant , most potential hydrogen , through a nuclear reactor gist , " the US Office of Nuclear Energyexplains . " Uranium molecule separate aside inside the core and release heat through fission . This physical process heat up the propellant and converts it to a gas , which is expanded through a nozzle to produce knife thrust . "

It was suggested that a class of Nuclear Thermal and Nuclear Electric Propulsion ( NTP / NEP ) systems proposed as part of the 2023 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts ( NIAC ) programme could make out down the travel time to Mars to a much more tolerable45 days .

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems ( GA - EMS ) is developing fuel for an NTP system – and in several high - impact tests at NASA ’s Marshall Space Flight Center ( MSFC ) run in conjunction with NASA , the fuel withstood a peak temperature of 2,600 Kelvin ( 2327 ° C , or 4,220 ° F ) .

“ The late examination results represent a critical milestone in the successful demonstration of fuel design for NTP nuclear reactor , ” Scott Forney , chair of GA - EMS , said in astatement . “ Fuel must exist extremely high temperatures and the hot hydrogen gas environment that an NTP reactor operating in space would typically run into . We ’re very encouraged by the convinced test result try out the fuel can survive these operational condition , locomote us nigher to realizing the potential drop of safe , reliable atomic thermal actuation for cislunar and deep space missions . ”

The tests were also designed to see whether the fuel would withstand the " extreme operating conditions " of space .

“ To the best of our noesis , we are the first company to use the compact fuel element environmental mental testing ( CFEET ) installation at NASA MSFC to successfully try and demonstrate the survivability of fuel after caloric cycling in hydrogen congresswoman temperatures and ramp charge per unit , ” Dr Christina Back , frailty president of GA - EMS Nuclear Technologies and Materials , added .

“ We ’ve also channel mental testing in a non - hydrogen environment at our GA - EMS laboratory , which reassert the fuel performed exceptionally well at temperature up to 3000 K [ 2,727 ° ascorbic acid , or 4,940 ° F ] , which would start the NTP organization to be two - to - three times more effective than schematic chemical substance rocket engines , " Back continued .

" We are excited to continue our collaboration with NASA as we mature and test the fuel to encounter the performance requirements for next cislunar and Mars mission architectures . ”

Of course , further intention and testing will be need before NASA can think about take over this technology . But if all give way well , this could importantly reduce down the clock time it would take to get humans to Mars .