火星任务瞄准核推进——时间紧迫

Fission-powered space flight, a 60-year dream, would supercharge Solar System exploration HANNAH RICHTER L ast week, at an event dubbed Ignition, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman shocked the planetary science community when he announced a December 2028 mission to Mars. It wasn’t simply because of its ambitious timeline, but because the spacecraft would carry a fission reactor—the first test of space nuclear propulsion in more than 60 years. “I confess I was more than a little surprised,” says Vicky Hamilton, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute. “A lot of folks at NASA don’t even understand all the details of what’s going on.” …