Women Interface Network  12h ago
 just casually dropping in the middle of the Artemis hype that their next Mars mission in 2028 will use nuclear-electric propulsion  

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/03/nasa-sr1-freedom-mars-2028/
NASA unveils Space Reactor-1 Freedom mission to Mars in 2028 - NASASpaceFlight.com

In a significant NASA announcement, Administrator Jared Isaacman and agency leaders outlined plans for a…

NASASpaceFlight.com
Show threadWomen Interface Network  
this engine was meant for the cancelled Lunar Gateway station whose hardware is now being cannibalized into other NASA projects. it will be the first ever fission reactor to operate in space, the first solar-independent ion thruster, an important step toward eventual nuclear thermal propulsion and opening doors for efficient outer solar system or interstellar exploration!
10:49amWeb
Show threadestelle12h ago

@winter still reading, but it looks like they're using nuclear.. electrical, the reactor is 20 kilowatts (electrical, the thermal output would thus be higher)

so presumably some fraction of the 20 kilowatts of electricity could be used to ionize and propel their xenon fuel

i like this, you get more specific impulse per unit mass of fuel (still don't see numbers, though) and you don't shoot radioisotopes out of the exhaust, either

Show threadWomen Interface Network  12h ago
@estelle compared to the 4.5 killwatt solar electric ion engine on Psyche, so far the most powerful one, it's a huge increase, but I wonder what the total spacecraft mass will be
Show threadestelle11h ago

@winter i was wondering about the fuel fraction myself, but apparently the mission these engines were sourced from called for "13 tons of xenon fuel", so i'm guessing availability isn't a problem for them

still no idea about exact specific impulse though, and archive.org gives me an old NASA site that wants me to install flash player, so...

Show threadWomen Interface Network  11h ago
@estelle oh so this is the same ion propulsion system they started developing way back for the ARM mission
Show threadestelle11h ago

@winter yeah, which is probably why i see a set of hall effect engines that uses more electricity than the reactor is capable of producing

(one of them mentioned roll-out solar panels to achieve the needed wattage, so maybe that's one of the ways they'd make it up? but i didn't plan this thing)

the reactor, if their technology works well, is really the way you want to go though; the panels have to get larger as you travel away from the sun, so i hope for the best here

Show threadWomen Interface Network  11h ago
@estelle I think they plan to just underpower the thrusters, ARM called for 50kW power to redirect an asteroid but it's just not necessary for delivering three small payloads to Mars