NEWS Space and Aerospace
NASA and DOE sign nuclear space agreement: what the framework does, and the 2028 and 2030 goals it backs
A coordination framework signed Oct. 8, 2026, joins NASA and DOE across research, fuel, testing, launch approval and operations for space nuclear systems. It underpins announced 2028 and 2030 reactor goals, plus radioisotope heaters for Dragonfly and ESA's Rosalind Franklin rover. What it does, what it does not, and what remains unproven.