Overview
- NASA unveiled SR-1 Freedom at its Ignition event, targeting a December 2028 launch with about a one-year cruise to Mars.
- The spacecraft will test nuclear electric propulsion using a 20-kilowatt reactor fueled by high-assay low-enriched uranium that NASA will build in-house with Department of Energy support, with the design shared openly with industry.
- NASA will adapt the Gateway Power and Propulsion Element, originally built for a lunar station the agency says it will no longer develop, to provide SR-1’s electric thrusters.
- Upon arrival, the SkyFall payload will release three Ingenuity-class helicopters to map hazards and search for buried water ice at a potential human landing site.
- Program leaders say the mission’s end-state remains open and key hurdles include launch licensing, radiation safety, and HALEU supply, with the reactor approach intended to feed a lunar surface unit in 2030 and larger systems in the 2030s.