NASA is hitting the accelerator on space missions and moon trips in the hopes of achieving some big firsts — a permanent moon base and an interplanetary spacecraft harnessing nuclear propulsion.
Over the next seven years, the agency is planning to launch dozens of mostly robotic missions to the moon at an estimated cost of $20 billion, with the goal of establishing a permanent moon base, NASA officials announced March 24. They also unveiled plans to launch the first nuclear propulsion interplanetary spacecraft in 2028, called the Space Reactor-1 Freedom. The spacecraft will fly to Mars and deliver three or so autonomous rotorcraft akin to NASA’s now-defunct Ingenuity helicopter.