NASA’s nuclear-powered spacecraft mission

• After decades of study and in response to the National Space Policy, NASA announced a major step forward in bringing nuclear power and propulsion from the lab to space.

• In December 2028, NASA will launch Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom, the first spacecraft to use a nuclear fission reactor for propulsion beyond Earth orbit. 

• In 60 years of spaceflight, no nation has ever accomplished this. 

• SR-1 will be the first, and it will carry to Mars the Skyfall payload of three Ingenuity-class helicopters. 

• This pathfinder mission will lay the groundwork and develop the technologies needed for future applications including surface power for the Moon, Mars, and outer solar system exploration.

Why nuclear fission?

• Solar power works near Earth. On the Moon, solar power depends on where you stand — even the best polar sites face days of darkness, and the permanently shadowed craters where ice exists see no sunlight at all. 

• Martian dust storms block sunlight for weeks. 

• To sustain a presence on the Moon, send crews to Mars, and explore the outer solar system, NASA is looking for  power that works everywhere, independent of the Sun. 

• Nuclear fission is that power. 

• 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.

How the mission will be implemented? 

• After launch SR-1 Freedom escapes Earth’s gravity, and within 48 hours starts a nuclear fission reactor and powers electric thrusters. 

• SR-1 will then navigate to Mars using nuclear electric propulsion and deploy the Skyfall payload of Ingenuity‑class helicopters to continue exploring the Red Planet. 

• Three Ingenuity-class helicopters will be equipped with cameras, ground-penetrating radar, and radios to survey potential human landing sites, search for sub-surface water, and relay navigation data for future landers.

• SR-1 is the first step in a deliberate sequence. 

• It will inform and enable Lunar Reactor-1 (LR-1), a fission surface-power system designed to keep the Moon base operating through periods of darkness and in locations where solar power alone cannot reach. 

• By flying a reactor first — without the added complexity of a lunar landing — SR-1 retires nuclear flight risk, stimulates and qualifies the supply chain, and builds the necessary workforce.

• SR-1 Freedom 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. 

• NASA and its US Department of Energy partner will unlock the capabilities required for sustained exploration beyond the Moon and eventual journeys to Mars and the outer solar system.