US Ad Astra Rocket Company and Space Nuclear Power Corporation (SpaceNukes) have signed a strategic partnership to advance high-power Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) technology to enable fast and reliable human and robotic missions to Mars and beyond. This alliance builds on Ad Astra’s 20-year experience with the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) and the SpaceNukes Kilopower reactor technology developed over the past decade under the joint NASA/NNSA/LANL KRUSTY ground test programme and the current Space Force JETSON programme.
Traditional electric propulsion technologies use electrostatic acceleration and operate at relatively low power levels (1-50 kW). In contrast, VASIMR‘s electromagnetic architecture scales to higher power levels (100s of kW to multi-MW), its electrodeless design leads to long operating life, and its fundamental physics make it able to use a variety of abundant and inexpensive propellants.
Kilopower’s high-temperature capability, launch safety characteristics, and simple adaptability to high powers make it an ideal nuclear reactor to pair with electric propulsion. The integrated nuclear power and propulsion system brings performance benefits, including commonality in high-temperature heat rejection and direct coupling of the reactor power to the VASIMR’s radio frequency system.
The partnership outlines a shared vision and passion for developing and demonstrating NEP technology and establishes a framework under which both companies will jointly pursue technical and business development. It aims to demonstrate high-power NEP in a flight programme by the end of the decade and commercialise the technology in the 2030s.
“Our plan will begin with a 100 kW plus NEP system as a stepping stone to a less than 5 kg per kW multi-megawatt NEP system with the capability to reduce the round-trip human transit time to Mars from more than a year to a few months,” said Dr David Poston, CTO of SpaceNukes.
