Astronaut Don Pettit recently shared a photo of a tentacled purple object that set social media ablaze. But this is far from an extraterrestrial threat; it’s actually an earthly treat. The “alien” is actually a potato.

The mission, called Space Reactor-1 Freedom (SR-1 Freedom), is set to launch in December 2028. This mission aims to showcase the use of nuclear fission in space to power electric thrusters. While nuclear technology has been around for decades, it lacked the drive, purpose, destination, and leadership—until now.

The U.S. space agency will aim to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars—a first—in a bid to show that nuclear propulsion can be used to send missions into deep space

The agency’s leader said new plans and timelines for the coming decade aim to create a permanent foothold by humans on another world and inspire Americans.

NASA plans to launch a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars by 2028, a major step for deep space exploration and its planned moon base.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The first astronauts to set foot on Mars should hunt for signs of past or present Red Planet life. That's the overarching conclusion of an in-depth report about human Mars exploration ...

A Dutch company that aims to land humans on Mars in 2023 as the vanguard of a permanent Red Planet colony has received its first funding from sponsors, officials announced this week. Mars One plans to fund most of its ambitious activities via a global ...

Planetary surface missions currently operate cautiously. On Mars, communication delays between Earth and rovers (typically between four and 22 minutes), as well as data transfer constraints due to uplink and downlink limitations,