Why NASA should go all-in on nuclear propulsion

"Viewed from orbit, Jackass Flats - situated in southern Nevada about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas - could easily be confused for Mars. The alluvial basin is full of tan and gray regolith, hued slightly red, and almost completely surrounded by carved, rocky hills. It was here, a half-century ago, that NASA engineers tested nuclear rockets intended to get us to the Red Planet by 1978."

"Officials had even grander hopes for the descendants of those rockets. They were planned to be mules for a permanent lunar base by 1981, propulsion systems for deep space probes to Jupiter, Saturn, and the outer planets, and engines for "space tugs" and shuttles ferrying payloads and people from low Earth orbit (LEO) to space stations around the Earth and the Moon. NASA even envisioned a "Grand Tour" of the Solar System propelled by nuclear rockets, taking advantage of a planetary alignment that happens every 174 years to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune with one sweeping mission between 1976 and 1980."

""The Rover/NERVA program conducted through the decade of the 1960's was a highly successful technology program," a NASA contractor report praised in 1991. "Its goals and objectives were to demonstrate the feasibility of a nuclear rocket engine system for space application. This 'Proof of Concept' program was mission oriented and culminated in the successful demonstration of a ground test engine system.""

Jackass Flats in southern Nevada served as a Marslike test site where NASA engineers demonstrated nuclear thermal rockets intended for crewed Mars missions and extensive interplanetary operations. Planners envisioned these engines powering a permanent lunar base, deep-space probes to the outer planets, orbital tugs, and a Grand Tour of the Solar System. The Rover/NERVA program successfully proved the technical feasibility of ground-tested nuclear propulsion. After the Apollo victory, political attention shifted to ending the Vietnam War, tackling inflation and energy crises, and prioritizing cost cuts, leading to cancellation of further nuclear propulsion development.

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