NASA officials visit Energy Dept facility building nuclear engine for 2028 Mars SkyFall mission
SkyFall helicopter deployment. Click for original animation.
NASA officials, including administrator Jared Isaacman, visited the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) on August 7, 2026, to review the status of its work building the nuclear electric propulsion engine that will be used to send the agency’s proposed three-helicopter SkyFall mission to Mars in 2028, dubbed overall SR-1 Freedom.
Neither NASA nor DOE have provided many details about the reactor design. Media accompanying the NASA tour of INL were not allowed to take photos or videos in a room that contained information about and hardware related to VALKRE [Versatile Autonomous Lightweight Kilowatt-class Reactor Experiment] and its application for SR-1 Freedom, and some lab officials were reticent to talk about VALKRE.
NASA officials, though, said they were pleased with what they saw of reactor development at INL. “I was super impressed to see the engineering design unit for VALKRE, the condition that was in, the testing they’ve done,” said [Associate Administrator Amit] Kshatriya.
Isaacman said as much after the tour.
It remains to be seen if this government project will happen on time. Unlike the bulk of Isaacman’s redesigned Artemis program, it is not being designed or built by a private company, but by DOE and NASA. And the track record for getting such government space projects built on time and on budget has been abysmal, for decades. The article at the link does a good job summarizing the situation, including listing all the unknowns that still remain.
Note: NASA is repurposing for this mission the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) module originally built for Lunar Gateway, and which SpaceX was awarded the contract to launch using Falcon Heavy. This suggests this SpaceX’s contract will be transferred to SkyFall.
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DOE was the outfit Rick Perry wanted to shutter, forgetting they handle nukes…he couldn’t think of the name on stage, even with Ron Paul trying to help him out.
I rank that ideological nonsense right down there with the anti-nukes that protested against Cassini.
My memory of that was of some greybeard hippie who had a little girl so worked up she sobbed during the Titan IV launch when she should have been cheering.
America’s Nuclear Patriots deserve more respect than they have gotten from either political extreme–and their wares considered of more worth than any grail:
https://xkcd.com/2115/
In comparison, the Spear of Longinus makes a good prop to keep my car hood up for repairs.
The fact is that EVERY government agency/administration needs to prove its worth. That the Department of Energy does SOME good is not surprising, and it is also not surprising that Rick Perry had at that time publicly wished to shutter the department. There are tremendous amounts of money being utterly wasted by our government.
I think it’s reasonable to do this first nuclear electric mission through government agencies, given that it is, well, *nuclear*, and it’s going to take time too start building a commercial industry with *that* capability. After this, though, it would be best to start shifting the burden of this kind of propulsion to the private sector, once the demonstration has been successful.
But yes, “speed” and “government” usually do not go together. Jared will have to ride them hard to have any hope of making his deadline (which it’s unlikely enough they will make no matter what).
I suspect that was the main, and not so subtle, point of the site visit.
Jeff W: “””keep my car hood up for repairs.”””
Repairing your own car???
How Dare You!
I used to looove repairing / tuning up. Timing, dwell, gap, gap gauge tool, distributors, etc. If you paid attention, practiced and listened to the engine, you eventually could tune it up by just listening.
Exactly. A spanner, a hammer, and a good ear kept my ’69 Kombi Van running for a decade in the ’90’s.
Nuclear Propulsion in Space
NASA (1968)
https://youtu.be/eDNX65d-FBY
(23:48)
The Rover Program
A Report on the Kiwi Transient Nuclear Test (January, 1965)
Nuclear Rocket Development Station at Jackass Flats
Los Alamos Science Lab
(28:12)
“In this test a Kiwi nuclear powered rocket engine was intentionally overloaded to explosion.”
whoops– helps if I include the link:
Kiwi TNT
https://youtu.be/4zSCdYu2Ps8
A Report on Project Rover
Los Alamos laboratories
https://youtu.be/yahvK9HX5u4
20:15
After successful Kiwi reactor development, the 2nd phase of Project Rover is the NERVA program, “nuclear engine reactor for vehicle applications,” followed by the RIFT program, “reactor in-flight testing.”
If only…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=El-VJeSLTUk&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D&ra=m