BWXT Nuclear Energy Targets Red Planet For Nuclear Propulsion System

Virginia-based BWX Technologies announced Thursday that its subsidiary BWXT Nuclear Energy Inc. had been awarded an $18.8 million contract from NASA to initiate conceptual designs for a nuclear thermal propulsion reactor. The aim of the project, the company said, was to support "a possible future manned mission to Mars." That would be a 54.6 million kilometer journey - 33.9 million miles.(read more)