But NASA is exploring some ambitious concepts that could make that epic round-trip a relatively trim two-year endeavor.
The project is dubbed MARVL, which is short for Modular Assembled Radiators for Nuclear Electric Propulsion Vehicles.
The main problem is trying to squeeze something that massive into the narrow confines of a rocket.
Even fully compacted, the radiator would be too big and unwieldy.
The coolant would dissipate waste heat from the nuclear electric propulsion system.
It’s still an immense technological challenge, but one that plays to NASA’s robotics expertise.
NASA alsosaysthat this approach will influence the design of the very spacecraft it aims to serve.
How do we do it?
And what does the vehicle look like if we do that?'
Of course, actually developing a full-scale nuclear spacecraft is still quite distant.
But prototypes like MARVL are bringing key pieces of the puzzle into reality.
