In the relentless quest to make journeys to Mars shorter and safer, Russian scientists have recently turned heads with a bold claim: A plasma-based propulsion system could cut the Earth–Mars transit ...

I’ve grown up with rockets that burn chemical fuel, but NASA’s next big leap in propulsion could make those engines look as dated as steam trains. By turning to nuclear power in space, the agency is ...

MIT master’s student Taylor Hampson is advancing research into nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP), thanks in part to a NASA-sponsored initiative. Nuclear propulsion could dramatically shorten travel ...