Name: DARPA selects Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin to develop spacecraft for nuclear propulsion demo - SpaceNews
Brand: spacenews.com
SKU: spacenews-com-190
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

DARPA selects Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin to develop spacecraft for nuclear propulsion demo - SpaceNews

preview

The choice of spacecraft contractors follows DARPA's selection of General Atomics to develop the nuclear reactor.WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency selected Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin to develop competing spacecraft concepts for a demonstration of nuclear thermal propulsion, the agencyUnder a program called DRACO, short for demonstration rocket for agile cislunar operations, DARPA wants to demonstrate nuclear thermal propulsion technology — using a nuclear reactor to heat up rocket fuel to generate thrust.DARPA awarded General Atomics a to develop the nuclear reactor.&nbsp;Lockheed Martin’s contract value is $2.9 million and the Blue Origin’s is $2.5 million.The goal of the program is to launch a spacecraft driven by nuclear thermal propulsion above low Earth orbit in 2025. DARPA believes this technology will allow spacecraft to travel huge distances quickly.“Rapid maneuver in the space domain has traditionally been challenging because current electric and chemical space propulsion systems have drawbacks in thrust-to-weight and propellent efficiency, respectively,” said Maj Nathan Greiner, DRACO program manager.Nuclear thermal propulsion “has the potential to achieve high thrust-to-weight ratios similar to in-space chemical propulsion and approach the high propellent efficiency of electric systems,” he said.Thefirst phase of the program will last 18 months and will focus on General Atomics’ reactor and propulsion subsystem concepts. In the second phase, Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin will independently develop spacecraft concept designs.Brent Sherwood, senior vice president of advanced development programs at Blue Origin, said in a statement to SpaceNews that&nbsp;Blue Origin is “excited to support DARPA in maturing spacecraft concepts for this important technology area.”Bill Pratt, manager of human exploration advanced programs at Lockheed Martin Space, said nuclear thermal propulsion is a “transformative technology that will dramatically change the way spacecraft will operate, increasing agility and allowing more efficient travel to Mars and beyond in far less time than conventional propulsion systems.”Pratt said in a statement that the company will leverage work done on nuclear propulsion in previous decades “as we combine it with digital engineering, modern spacecraft design and creativity to advance this new capability.”Please enable JavaScript to view the

The choice of spacecraft contractors follows DARPA's selection of General Atomics to develop the nuclear reactor.WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency selected Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin to develop competing spacecraft concepts for a demonstration of nuclear thermal propulsion, the agencyUnder a program called DRACO, short for demonstration rocket for agile cislunar operations, DARPA wants to demonstrate nuclear thermal propulsion technology — using a nuclear reactor to heat up rocket fuel to generate thrust.DARPA awarded General Atomics a to develop the nuclear...

public

Sandra Erwin

spacenews.com

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

DARPA selects Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin to develop spacecraft for nuclear propulsion demo - SpaceNews

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS