Lockheed Martin wins contract to develop and test nuclear-powered spacecraft

With a growing number of aerospace companies, Colorado continues to leave its mark in space.

After being awarded a multi-million dollar contract, Lockheed Martin in Jefferson County is now working to develop and test a nuclear-powered spacecraft that could speed up space travel.

While nuclear power is certainly not new technology using it to power a spacecraft is.

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"This nuclear propulsion system is ultimately more efficient so you can leave it on longer and ultimately get to places much faster so now if we are sending humans to mars the traditional six to nine months we could get them there potentially as fast as three to four months, so this is a really exciting technology that can make exploration to mars much more feasible," Gary Napier said.

Napier is a spokesperson for Lockheed Martin, one of roughly 400 companies in Colorado that are involved in a number of groundbreaking missions in space.

Lockheed will work in partnership with BWX Technologies to develop the nuclear thermal propulsion engine.

A nuclear reactor will be used to heat a hydrogen propellant creating an very hot pressurized gas and ultimately an extremely powerful thrust.

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The ignition process however wouldn't start until well after leaving the Earth's atmosphere.

"It's going to go up to an altitude quite aways away from Earth, one thousand to two thousand kilometers aways this a is a very safe altitude to where that spacecraft can never come back after that nuclear reactor is ignited and the fission process starts so it is a very safe approach to this demonstration," Napier said.

The work he says is already underway, adding to an already exciting time in the industry.

"Human space flight a lot of lunar mobility vehicles really exciting time for lunar exploration and deep space exploration,"

The testing for the spacecraft is set for 2027 a major step toward a goal of getting humans to Mars sometime in the mid 2030s

Check out the spacecraft design here.