📌 TOPINDIATOURS Update ai: NASA Announces Nuclear Mission to Mars by 2028 Edisi Ja

NASA’s plans for a Moon base have been capturing headlines lately — but today it’s putting Mars back in the crosshairs with a first-of-its-kind nuclear mission it says will launch by the end of 2028.

It’ll be the “first nuclear powered interplanetary spacecraft,” according to a NASA announcement, dubbed “Space Reactor‑1 Freedom.”

The goal is to demonstrate “advanced nuclear electric propulsion in deep space,” a concept has remained highly elusive, despite the theoretical advantages of high energy efficiency and the ability to cover vast distances.

“Nuclear electric propulsion provides an extraordinary capability for efficient mass transport in deep space and enables high power missions beyond Jupiter where solar arrays are not effective,” NASA wrote.

Once it reaches the Red Planet, the SR-1 Freedom mission will deploy three helicopters roughly the same size as NASA’s groundbreaking Ingenuity, to “continue exploring” the Red Planet.

The agency has high hopes for its nuclear powered mission, claiming that it “will establish flight heritage nuclear hardware, set regulatory and launch precedent, and activate the industrial base for future fission power systems across propulsion, surface, and long‑duration missions.”

Interestingly, the mission will repurpose the propulsion and power element (PPE) from its Lunar Gateway, a proposed space station in the Moon’s orbit, which has officially been put on hold by the agency.

The idea behind using nuclear fission to reach the deserted planet has been around since at least the 1950s. But turning the flashy concept into reality could prove challenging. For one, NASA will need to source enriched uranium to give its rocket the best chance of success, which is easier said than done.

Put simply, there are two core types of nuclear propulsion being developed. Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) involves using a fission reactor using uranium to heat up extremely cold liquid propellant, such as a store of hydrogen, and releasing the hot gas out of a nuzzle to generate thrust. A nuclear electric rocket, like NASA’s SR-1 Freedom mission also involves splitting atoms using a reactor, but using the power to drive an ion thruster or other method of electric propulsion instead.

At least on paper, both systems are more efficient than chemical rockets in terms of specific impulse, or thrust, per amount of propellant. They can also provide propulsion where solar arrays are no longer effective given the distance to the Sun.

The momentum behind the idea of cutting a journey to Mars in half with the help of nuclear-powered rockets is palpable. NASA signed a partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Lockheed Martin in 2023 to design, build, and test a nuclear propulsion system as part of an ambitious program called the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO).

However, DARPA canceled the project in June 2025 after a short internal review and concluding that theoretical performance gains may be less than anticipated.

Officials also noted that the cost of launch continues to come down in large part thanks to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“When DRACO was originally conceived of, that was pre- the precipitous decrease in launch costs that has been driven largely by SpaceX capabilities and the continued decrease that Starship offers if we can get it operational,” DARPA deputy director Rob McHenry said in a statement at the time.

“And it was also based on analysis at the time that showed that nuclear thermal was likely to be the optimal solution for a set of national security related admissions, as well as solar system exploration,” he added. “And over the execution of that program, both of those assumptions started to get weaker and weaker.”

More on nuclear propulsion: Startup Says Its Nuclear Fusion Rocket Could Cut Time to Mars in Half

The post NASA Announces Nuclear Mission to Mars by 2028 appeared first on Futurism.

🔗 Sumber: futurism.com

📌 TOPINDIATOURS Breaking ai: New tool boosts safety checks for compact heat exchan

Engineers in the United States have unveiled a new inspection method that could speed up the adoption of compact heat exchangers in advanced nuclear reactors.

The development was led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as part of efforts to make next-generation reactors smaller, more efficient, and more affordable.

These compact systems are designed to operate at extremely high temperatures and pressures, making safety verification a critical hurdle before widespread deployment.

A key barrier to next-gen reactors

Compact heat exchangers are seen as a backbone technology for advanced nuclear systems. They help transfer heat efficiently within reactors, improving overall performance.

However, these components must withstand the high temperatures and operate under intense pressure for extended periods.

The main concern lies in the structural integrity of the bonds inside the exchanger material. If these bonds weaken over time, the system’s efficiency drops and safety risks increase. Until now, there has been no standardized method to reliably assess how strong these internal bonds are after manufacturing.

“Our tool will help increase confidence in compact heat exchangers, paving the way for this technology to be certified for use in nuclear reactors,” stated Mark Anderson, a professor of mechanical engineering at UW-Madison.

How diffusion welding creates the core structure

Printed circuit heat exchangers are manufactured using diffusion welding. This process involves stacking thin metal plates with etched channels and applying heat and pressure to fuse them into a single solid unit.

“The diffusion welding process is kind of like if you have two chocolate bars, and you stack one on top of the other and then press them together until they fuse into a single chocolate bar,” Anderson mentioned.

“Our goal is to achieve the strongest possible bond between the layers.”

The finished structure contains microscopic channels that allow heat to move efficiently while withstanding harsh operating environments. But over time, exposure to high heat and pressure can degrade these welded interfaces, making accurate testing essential.

New tool measures bond strength precisely

To address this challenge, the research team focused on two materials already approved for nuclear use: stainless steel 316H and alloy 617. These materials are known for their strength at high temperatures, but verifying the quality of the welds between them remained a gap.

“We know these materials can perform well at elevated temperatures, but we still need to prove that the manufacturing method—diffusion welding—can create suitably strong bonds where grain growth across the interface is sufficient to hold up under high temperature and pressure,” explained Ian Jentz, a scientist in mechanical engineering at UW-Madison..

Working with CompRex, the team produced sample components and analyzed them under microscopes. They examined how microscopic grains grew across the bonded interfaces, which directly indicates bond strength.

To speed up this process, the researchers partnered with MIPAR and the Electric Power Research Institute to develop automated image analysis software. This tool scans microscope images and calculates the percentage of grain growth across the weld interface.

Toward safer and standardized nuclear components

The result is a measurable and repeatable metric for bond quality. This could play a crucial role in establishing future industry standards, including guidelines from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for high-temperature pressure systems.

By defining a minimum acceptable level of grain growth, manufacturers and regulators can ensure each component meets strict safety requirements before it is deployed in a reactor.

“Our new tool and methods ensure that manufacturers can trust the integrity of every bond, every time, as they’re producing commercial-scale compact heat exchangers,” Anderson added.

“This research program is delivering real and long-lasting benefits to reactor companies and the future of power generation worldwide.”

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com