The Artemis mission, which started testing last year, wants to send humans back to the surface of the moon by 2025. After that, the moon will be used as the launch site for the next mission to Mars. To realize this dream that is seen as science fiction, NASA has announced that they will test the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) engine managed by DARPA since 2020.
Through the cooperation of these two government bodies, the actual test of the DRACO engine will be done by 2027. If it goes well, this will pave the way for NASA to launch a mission to Mars by the end of the 2030 decade.
Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) systems offer twice the specific impulse of current chemical rocket systems. Specific impulse is a measure used to calculate the efficiency level of a rocket engine. Missions to Mars could be shortened to three months with NTP engines compared to seven months using chemical rocket engines.
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