The high ground has always held strategic and tactical importance—from mountaintops in ancient battles to the orbital vantage points of today. China and Russia are rapidly accelerating their space and lunar ambitions. Both are seeking scientific, economic, and national security breakthroughs that could shift the balance of power on Earth.
The President’s budget calls for an eventual pivot away from NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS)—leaving the heavy-lift rocket business to a capable commercial industry. That pivot should be toward something no other agency, organization, or company is capable of accomplishing: building a fleet of nuclear-electric-powered spaceships and extending America’s reach in the ultimate high ground of space.
The NASA centers, workforce, and contractors that manage, assemble, and test SLS are suited to take on this inspiring and necessary challenge. NASA Center at Michoud, for example, built landing craft during WWII, the Saturn V during the space race, the Space Shuttle, and the SLS. It is now waiting for the next logical evolution to ensure the competitiveness of our national space capabilities.
Like the railroads that once opened the American frontier, nuclear propulsion is an efficient means of accelerating mass through deep space. Unlike chemical propulsion—which demands complex in-situ propellant manufacturing, orbital refueling, and tightly aligned launch windows—nuclear-electric propulsion offers freedom of movement and operational simplicity.
It reduces planetary launch window constraints. It has less dependency on orbital depots and surface propellant manufacturing. And it is reusable and provides greater mission optionality to Mars and beyond.
In addition to propulsion, onboard nuclear reactors offer sustained electrical power that solar panels simply can’t match – especially in deep space or on shadowed lunar or Martian terrain. This would unlock persistent surface operations, high-throughput communications and instruments, and dual-use options for national security missions and critical Department of Defense platforms.
Unlike Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, Nuclear Electric Propulsion does not require radioactive, open-air testing. Nor does it require the complexity of hydrogen propellant and on-orbit refueling.
Our competitors are not waiting. China and Russia are investing heavily in nuclear space technologies. If America wants to lead, NASA must take on the hard problems again and do the near-impossible. It must urgently deliver the systems only it can build—leaving routine operations such as Earth-to-orbit delivery to the healthy commercial launch industry.
This is no easy road, and there is a long list of obstacles that should not deter this endeavor. We need to get into the rhythm. We must get comfortable working with and transporting highly enriched uranium – and launching and operating nuclear reactors in space. As we apply the practical uses of nuclear power and propulsion in space, we will inevitably gain experience and a deeper understanding. This will drive down costs and improve performance until we eventually unlock even more exotic forms of propulsion.
NASA must embrace bold undertakings again. Making the development of nuclear-electric propulsion a mini-Manhattan project would be a good start. As we did with the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine, we should unleash the best and brightest minds to ensure America is underway under nuclear power in space.
America has no choice. What we stand to learn and gain—for our people, economy, and security—is astronomical. If we don’t lead, you can be sure others will.
If we lose the high ground, the consequences won’t be limited to space. It is time for NASA to commit to the nuclear option.
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