Nuclear propulsion and power technologies could…

Nuclear propulsion and power technologies could unlock new frontiers in missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. NASA has reached an important milestone advancing nuclear propulsion that could benefit future deep space missions by completing a cold-flow test campaign of the first flight reactor engineering development unit since the 1960s.
Teams at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, conducted more than 100 tests on the engineering development unit over several months in 2025. The 44-inch by 72-inch unit, built by BWX Technologies of Richmond, Virginia, is a full-scale, non-nuclear, flight-like development test article the size of a 100-gallon drum that simulates propellant flow throughout the reactor across a range of operational conditions.