Nuclear-powered rocket could get astronauts to Mars faster

By Nell Lewis, CNN

Updated 1226 GMT (2026 HKT) February 10, 2021

<strong>2020: </strong>Rocket technology has come a long way since the start of the space age. Humanity's next giant leap is sending astronauts to Mars, with NASA hoping to do this by the mid 2030s. But to reach the red planet, explore the surface, and safely return home, new technologies must be deployed.<strong> </strong>One option being considered is<strong> </strong>nuclear-powered rockets. This<strong> </strong>design, by USNC-Tech, could travel from Earth to Mars in just three months, says the company. <strong>Click through to see the evolution of spacecraft, and how far we've come. </strong><br />
Photos: The rockets that defined space travel
2020: Rocket technology has come a long way since the start of the space age. Humanity's next giant leap is sending astronauts to Mars, with NASA hoping to do this by the mid 2030s. But to reach the red planet, explore the surface, and safely return home, new technologies must be deployed. One option being considered is nuclear-powered rockets. This design, by USNC-Tech, could travel from Earth to Mars in just three months, says the company. Click through to see the evolution of spacecraft, and how far we've come.
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<strong>1944: </strong>The first rocket capable of reaching the edge of space was the V-2, a long-range ballistic missile. Developed by German engineers during World War II, its full name -- "<a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/v-2-missile/nasm_A19600342000#:~:text=The%20V%2D2%20missile%20was,underground%20by%20concentration%20camp%20prisoners." target="_blank">Vergeltungswaffe Zwei</a>" (Vengeance Weapon Two) -- was given to it by <a href="https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/v-2-the-rocket-that-launched-the-space-age/" target="_blank">Joseph Goebbels</a>, the Nazi minister of propaganda. Despite being used as a lethal weapon the V-2, which was powered by a liquid ethanol fuel, signaled the dawn of the space age, with the Allies scrambling to acquire the technology once the war had ended.