So the NASA administrator announced that in two years from now they’re sending a fission-based spacecraft to Mars to deploy helicopters.

@thomasfuchs Timeline is probably too ambitious but nuclear-electric propulsion for spacecraft has been studied/engineered since the 1950s.

https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/25977/chapter/5

Read

Read chapter 3 Nuclear Electric Propulsion: Space Nuclear Propulsion for Human Mars Exploration identifies primary technical and programmatic challenges,...

The National Academies Press
@brianvastag yes and they gave up on it in the 70s :)