The Thursday letters page has some big ideas for the future of Assassin’s Creed, as a reader thinks Capcom is purposefully trolling Dino Crisis fans.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Living dead platformer
I have a terrible confession to make to you, GC. I’m actually looking forward to Bubsy 4D. I know the earlier games are awful but the developer on this one is good and I liked their previous game Demon Tides. More importantly, I love 3D platformers and I’m pretty much starving for anything else to play.

We still don’t know when the next 3D Mario will be and I think there’s a good chance that it won’t be next year, which seems crazy but that’s Nintendo for you.

There hasn’t been a Sonic Frontiers sequel, which is also crazy to me because I thought the first one was actually pretty good. And that’s pretty much it, because nobody is making 3D platformers anymore. Not Rare, not Naughty Dog, not anyone for Crash Bandicoot or Spyro. Even the Yooka-Laylee guys don’t seem to be doing anything new.

Do I just have to accept that the 3D platformer is dead? Just with the odd Mario game every decade and a few low budget indie games? I guess I probably do.
Thompson

Review manipulation
I see the developer of Outbound had to apologise for asking people to remove bad reviews of it from Steam. Why is that doesn’t get any outrage online but apparently Mixtape is the worst thing ever to happen to gaming?

It’s pretty obvious that the people complaining don’t care about indie gaming at all. They probably don’t care about any game more daring than Fortnite, so it’s terrible to see a game be torn down for no reason. I have no interest in it and will never play it but why can’t these haters just stop there and accept it’s not for them?
Temol

The next evolution
Bringing back Ezio does indeed sound like exactly the sort of thing a company would try to do when they’re desperately smashing the nostalgia button and don’t know what to do with the franchise. I’m not against it, as he was definitely the best one, but I think it’s telling that the only character anyone really cares about is from the second game from 17 years ago.

I hope Hexe is good, and I will give it a chance, but I feel the series needs something more than just switching settings every time. Maybe it’s time for it to evolve into a different franchise? Assassin’s Creed is basically just Prince Of Persia with a different hat on, maybe they should make some actual historical games without all the pointless sci-fi stuff?
Gaston

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

A fair price
I feel like an idiot for saying this but I have to say I think £100 for GTA 6 is probably fair. That’s assuming it’s of roughly the same quality as GTA 5, including the size of the game world and GTA Online. Assuming that, and that they aren’t lying about the graphics in some way, I don’t see how you don’t get £100 of value out of it.

I’m not saying I’d be that 1% of people that said it should cost more, in that survey, but I think we need to accept that the amount of work that goes into games, and the amount of time we spend playing them, justifies a high price.

I wouldn’t say that for any old game but when you know what you’re getting and it’s something that only comes round once a decade I don’t actually have a problem with it. Bragging that you spent 300 hours game and then you only paid £40, or whatever, for it doesn’t seem quite fair to me.
Branton

Inevitable outcome
Sony has faced significant financial losses due to the impairment of Bungie’s assets, which has led to a $765 million loss for the fiscal year 2025. This loss is attributed to the underperformance of Bungie’s portfolio, including the struggles of Destiny 2 and Marathon. I think they paid nearly $2 billion for Bungie?

Not good for gaming, would love Bungie to do another Halo but as things stand that’s not happening. Destiny is done and Marathon has failed but making Marathon’s gameplay a steep learning curve was always going to alienate a lot of gamers. More jobs losses I guess.
TWO MACKS

Time compression
I haven’t got any obscure anniversaries to shock you with today but I did just read that it’s now been longer between GTA 6 Trailer 2 and now than it was between GTA 3 and GTA: Vice City. In other words, they made a whole game (one of the most famous of all-time) quicker than they’ve managed to make a new trailer.

I’m sure they could’ve done a new trailer quicker if they wanted, of course they could, but it does drive home how much quicker games were to make back in the day. I’m sure they were crunching like hell back then, and the game is basically a total conversion of GTA 3, but it’s still quite the achievement to get it released that quick.

I think this is an important thing we’re missing today, where you can not only not tell a proper story between games, because it takes too long between new chapters, but you also can’t make these sort of expansion pack style sequels either. There just aren’t any shortcuts anymore.

Zelda: Majora’s Mask, which was basically a total conversion of Ocarina Of Time, wouldn’t exist today because there’s be no way to make it quick enough that it wouldn’t just be easier to make a brand new game.

There are some amazing triple-A games out there at the moment and I’m loving Pragmata, but that game is only about 12 hours long and it took six years to make. That’s six months per hour of playing time or, to put it another way, at least four GTA 6 trailers!
Manx

Extinct hopes
I can’t believe what a dissing Dino Crisis took in that Capcom report. They already didn’t have enough games to mention, because they did Onimusha when we already know it’s getting a new franchise. Why couldn’t Dino Crisis have taken that slot?

And then there’s multiplayer dinosaur game they had a while back, that I can’t remember the name of… it feels like Capcom is trolling Dino Crisis fans and I don’t understand way. Jurassic World is still big, why would you think Onimusha and Ōkami are worth another shot but not Dino Crisis?
Korbie

GC: The multiplayer game you’re thinking of is Exoprimal.

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Real gamers
Looking at the discourse around Mixtape I have to say gamers don’t do themselves any favours, the whole thing is just weird. We also had the bizarre Marathon and Crimson Desert back and forth earlier in the year, that to anyone not terminally online is just baffling.

As far as I can tell Crimson Desert is the real gamers’ game of the year? Because… reasons… and anyone who doesn’t like it is a shill for the ‘woke mafia’ I guess. Then whenever Marathon and Bungie are mentioned it seems to rally nutters to say the game’s ‘dead’ and the userbase inflated due to some cabal of journalists and powerful publisher interests. Guys… it’s just an online shooter some people like and some people don’t.

Obviously, we live in a time were everything is a conspiracy, from politics to sport thanks to social media. You’d expect gaming to fall victim to that too, by just existing in the same space, every mistake or attempt to expand the audience is actually some nefarious scheme out to change something against the ‘will of the people’.

I also wonder if part of it is that gaming does seem to be getting more hardcore? Older gamers are drifting away through the pressures of family and work commitments, or for the young it’s just the endless supply of other media to consume.

Most of the next generation either don’t games like we did in the past (I remember the article some months ago saying gaming was now competing with gambling and adult internet content) or do game and are deep in the walled gardens of Roblox, Fortnite, et al. That’s leaving an ever smaller over-invested player-base behind, who see themselves as gate keepers and lash out at anything they don’t like.

It seems to me this increasingly unpleasant online chatter is as much a threat to the future of the medium as ever-increasing hardware and software costs. We need to expand the audience and get more normal people involved, not shrink it.
Marc

GC: It’s pretty depressing stuff, we have an article up today about it. But your penultimate paragraph pretty much nails it.

Inbox also-rans
Hang on, so that Steam Controller costs £85 and it doesn’t have a speaker? I know PC hardware is expensive at the moment, jeez…
Topcat

I didn’t realise so many different people had tried to blow up Nintendo before. Between this and constant layoffs, being a games developer sounds like no fun at all.
Jester

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The small print
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MORE: Games Inbox: What Sega game deserves a remake the most?

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“In recent weeks, for instance, far too many of our Nato allies showed that they could not be relied upon to support our nation’s operations against Iran – despite the fact that they themselves are far more reliant on Middle East energy markets than we are and also share our interest in denying Iran a nuclear weapons and otherwise degrading Iran’s power projection capabilities.

Pep Guardiola called Phil Foden a “unique” talent after watching the midfielder shine in Manchester City’s 3-0 Premier League win over Crystal Palace.

Foden made his first start in more than two months following another difficult period for the 25-year-old, but he showed why the club are working on a new contract with him as he set up goals from Antoine Semenyo and Omar Marmoush before Savinho sealed the win late on.

He teed up Semenyo with a superb backheeled pass, before controlling a high ball for Marmoush to finish.

“In these types of games, (against) a low block…you need quality, the spark, the talent, the vision, something,” Guardiola said.

“It’s not in the tactical boards, it’s not in the meetings, it’s not in the videos, it’s not even the training.

“(Foden) receives the ball in small spaces and creates something, like the good players, he can deliver and I’m really pleased for him.

“We want (him) close to the box because Phil close to the box is unique.”

This is a second-consecutive season in which Foden has struggled to find his best form, but City retain huge faith in a player who has been so important to them since graduating from the academy.

“It has to be a big role in the future and he has to deliver what he has done for many, many years,” Guardiola added.

“He felt how people love him with the standing ovation for his actions. People want him to just be happy.

“(He is a) box-to-box player with incredible attributes, otherwise he would not be here for many years, winning six (Premier Leagues) and the trophies we have done together.”

Foden came into the side as one of six changes made by Guardiola with an eye on Saturday’s FA Cup final against Chelsea, but he got the result City needed to stay in touch with Arsenal in the league, while still giving the likes of Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki a rest.

“In general it was really good against a team that could create problems,” he said. “Three goals against Brentford, three goals here, I cannot ask for more.”

Palace had the ball in the City net inside two minutes but Jean-Philippe Mateta’s strike was ruled out with Brennan Johnson offside in the build-up, and from then on the visitors were decidedly second best, looking very much like a side whose eyes were already on the Conference League final.

“We have to accept that City were too good for us,” boss Oliver Glasner said. “If you want to get a point here you need a top performance and we could not deliver today.

“It was OK in some parts, not good enough in others. The second half was a bit better but today we were not in our top level.

“We scored one but we were slightly offside. In possession we moved the ball too slow. We didn’t really stick to the plan in possession.

“We knew they would play a very high line, you need the runs but the ball movement was too slow. In the back we lost two or three balls too easily.

“Today the players couldn’t deliver what we wanted to do.”

The 79th Cannes Film Festival is underway, kicking off 12 days of nonstop premieres, photo calls and red carpet glamour. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

Nominations for the annual event, held by The Press, have been coming in thick and fast – but readers are being reminded that they still have time to vote for a special person or group who go above and beyond in their duties.  

The first voting stage of the competition will end on June 5 – with finalists invited to a glittering award ceremony at York Racecourse on Thursday (September 5).

Recommended reading:

We have 11 different award categories this year and featured among these is Health Service Hero.

The Press is searching for an unsung healthcare worker whose dedication to their patients and work is second to none.

Last year, we presented Chloe Slater with the award.

Chloe was recognised for her efforts on York Hospital’s maternity unit supporting vulnerable women and babies by organising a collection to help refugee families at Christmas.

Speaking about Chloe, York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “Chloe collected donations of essential items such as nappies and baby grows to make sure the new mums, many of whom arrived in York with nothing, had what they needed.”

At the time, Chloe said that winning the award meant an enormous amount, both professionally and personally.

She added: “Knowing that somewhere there is someone that really did believe in me enough to nominate me is something that I will always remember.”

Chloe had spoken about plans to extend her collection to become a year-round baby bank, with support from colleague and midwife Jill Robertson.

If you know someone like Chloe who deserves recognition, please nominate them by using the link here.

Other award categories include Against All Odds, Charity Fundraiser of the Year, Education Hero of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Young Person of the Year Award, Sports Person/Team of the Year, York Community Pride Outstanding Contribution Award, Carer of the Year, Best Community Project and School of the Year.

Nominations must include a supporting statement with each entry.

He said he has been involved in politics for 15 years, “from the UKIP days all the way to Reform”

A Reform UK councillor who has become the star of a viral video has spoken about his now-infamous “UKIP” gaffe.

Peter Reeve, who won the Stanground South ward seat on May 7, has achieved notoriety after mistakenly referring to his former party, UKIP, in a television interview at Peterborough’s local election results.

Speaking to the press during the early hours of May 8, a jubilant Mr Reeve said: “Our message is: ‘UKIP’s here, working hard with local communities.”

He subsequently corrected himself, quickly clarifying that he had been involved in politics for 15 years “from the UKIP days all the way to Reform”.

The clip has since gone viral after being posted on social media. So was it a simple mis-speak or more of a Freudian slip?

“So, essentially; [it was] four o’clock in the morning, [and the] tenth interview in a row,” Cllr Reeve told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

“It wasn’t deliberate,” he continued, chuckling at his own faux-pas: “some people are suggesting that [as] I’ve had so much media coverage off the back of it.”

Deliberate or not, it’s fair to say that the newly installed councillor definitely has received a lot of attention as a result. “The national coverage I’ve got from that mistake is absolutely huge,” he acknowledged.

The councillor said he bears no grudge at all with the broadcaster that aired his clanger. “I don’t see a real problem with the ITV interview itself,” he said, adding “they made light of it.”

However, Cllr Reeve was keen to clarify that Reform UK “is an entirely different party with an entirely different agenda,” to UKIP.

At the same time, he was also eager to confirm “I’ve got no shame in what we did with UKIP.”

One thing that has irked Cllr Reeve is how the clip has since been manipulated by some on social media, an arena which he admits he has only modest experience dealing with.

He said: “The.. thing I’ve learned is how brutal social media is. [The] really, really nasty comments on there have made me realise just how toxic social media is.

“It’s really opened up my eyes at what some kids and the younger generation are… going through and the level of trauma it can cause.”

Though he has not enjoyed this curt introduction to the darker side of digital fame, he still believes the experience has been “really useful.”

“I’ve got a much better insight into how social media can affect people in a toxic and negative way.”

City of York Council’s executive approved plans to close the market on Tuesdays to improve access to the city centre, despite warnings it could cost between £2.6 million and £7.82 million in lost spending.

Cllr Pete Kilbane, the council’s Labour economy spokesperson, said they would not bar some from the city centre during the event but they had a difficult balance to strike.

The move follows traffic restrictions which saw vehicles including Blue Badge holders barred from driving into the city centre when last year’s market was running.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Speaking at the Executive meeting on Tuesday, May 12, Amanda Cooper of the York Disability Rights Forum said barring disabled people’s access to essential services was already causing stress for some.

Ms Cooper said: “There’s a deaf and bling person who needs to access the bank, restricting access causes them stress over their finances.

“It could also result in others going into financial difficulties or debt.”

Lee Clayton, who runs Nutty’s Emporium and has traded at the market for five years, said the closures may force him to do business elsewhere in the future.

The trader said ahead of the meeting: “A lost day’s trade, which is in effect five or six days across the whole market, is crippling for a small business like myself.

“It be a real shame as I love being part of the market for both the success it brings my business and the atmosphere it creates.”

York Christmas Market is set to close on Tuesdays this year (Image: Staff)

Disability rights activist Flick Williams said she was dismayed by what she said was the ableism from some in the business community in the run up to the decision.

The campaigner said: “Disabled people aren’t a homogenous mass with the same access needs.

“Businesses who say we just need to suck it up in response to being totally excluded for six weeks of the year might do well to examine their own access arrangements.”

Resident Gwen Swinburn said she was concerned about the financial, legal and safety risks if the council is liable for anything which happens as a result of the closures.

York Access Forum’s Diane Rowarth said running the market all week shut disabled people out of the city through no choice of their own.

Ms Rowarth said: “York city centre must be a place for all residents, disabled people have been excluded for a whole period during the Christmas Market.

“This isn’t a perfect solution, but it’s one day a week more than we have now.”

Rob Collins, owner of Parliament Street’s Days café, said his business relied on earnings during the market to tide them through January, February and March.

The café owner said: “A city centre full of empty chalets will kill it for one day a week.

“This is one of the worst times in history for the hospitality industry, we need your support not another nail in the coffin.”

Marketing profession Charlotte Bodman said she feared that getting the message out about rest days would be difficult.

She said: “Visitors who arrive on a closed Tuesday are unlikely simply to return another day, many will have planned specific travel dates, overnight stays or day trips around their visit.

“Reducing trading days sets a precedent that may prove difficult to reverse.”

Concerns over the effects of the closures were also raised by York’s Business Improvement District (BID), High Street Forum, Made in Yorkshire and the Grand Yorkshire steam train tours company.

North Yorkshire Police requested an Anti-Terror Traffic Regulation Order (ATTRO) to deter terror attacks and the restrictions are now available for use all year round on a case-by-case basis.

Police and counter-terror advice ahead of Tuesday was that keeping the market open all week offered the most security but said the decision rested with the council.

Measures approved for this year would see Blue Badge holders allowed onto the ‘Goodramgate loop’ on Tuesdays between Deansgate, King’s Square and Colliergate but Church Street would be closed.

Rest days will be trialled this year, with a return to a seven-day-a-week market not ruled out as council officials work on long-term solutions to access issues.

Water bills are rising, public anger over sewage pollution has not abated, and the government has now set out a major overhaul of water regulation in the king’s speech.

The proposed water reform bill signals a shift in emphasis. Rather than focusing solely on water companies, the legislation aims to address pollution more broadly, including contributions from agriculture and industry. This wider lens has long been missing from water policy and is, in principle, a welcome change.

The bill also promises a more unified regulatory system. The financial regulator Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and the water-related arms of the Environment Agency and Natural England would be brought together under a single regulatory umbrella. The intention is to end the fragmented oversight that has characterised the sector for decades.

These proposals follow the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission, as outlined in the 2025 Cunliffe review which critiqued England’s privatised water industry, and Labour’s white paper. Yet despite the language of reform, the vision looks less like a radical reset and more like a reboot of privatisation.

The Clean Water Now coalition – a group of over 40 environmental groups – has put forward proposals that include three main asks: to fix the system, stop the polluters and restore nature.

Public opinion polling consistently shows strong support for bringing water back into public ownership. Labour’s white paper, however, places clear emphasis on “making water a more attractive and reliable sector for investors seeking stable and fair returns”. It is this focus that will worry campaigners, as it suggests continuity with an economic model widely blamed for underinvestment, rising bills and environmental harm.

À lire aussi :
No wonder England’s water needs cleaning up – most sewage discharges aren’t even classified as pollution incidents

The government also promises more joined‑up and longer‑term regional planning for water. Solutions don’t just involve tightening regulations and enforcement within the water industry. Everything from agricultural fertilisers, road runoff and chemical factory waste can contribute to pollution. Preventing the release of contaminants is vital, before pollution reaches the water treatment system.

But some of the most pressing challenges appear to receive surprisingly little attention. Climate change, for example, is mentioned only once in the government’s 53‑page white paper, in a brief statement about “future‑proofing” the regulatory framework against emerging pressures.

That omission matters. Changing rainfall patterns are already increasing sewage discharges, placing additional strain on ageing infrastructure. Periods of low river flow and drought make pollution events more damaging, not less, because contaminants are more concentrated in a smaller volume of water. Water scarcity, meanwhile, will intensify demand for water and competition between households, agriculture and industry. Clean water is becoming even more valuable as a commodity.

Ignored warning signs

Ofwat reports from more than 20 years ago warned that climate change would require long‑term planning and major infrastructure investment. The Ofwat annual reports for 2007-08 states: “We have also started to develop guidance for companies to assess the robustness of their infrastructure to extreme events so that they can take best account of the challenges of climate change in planning and delivering services to consumers.” The industry failed to respond and the regulator failed to regulate.

After three decades without a single new reservoir being built, the government is now legislating for several over the coming years – a tacit admission that those warnings were ignored.

The government argues that a new, integrated regulator will provide greater stability, transparency and a clearer view of both economic and environmental performance. That ambition will only be realised if transparency is actively safeguarded.

Decisions about whether revenue is directed towards shareholder returns, infrastructure investment or environmental protection will increasingly sit within a single body. This makes scrutiny of that internal decision-making crucial.

The reforms promise coherence and long‑term thinking. Whether they deliver genuine environmental improvement – or simply a more streamlined version of the status quo – will depend on how robustly the new system is designed, and whose interests it ultimately serves.

Nasa is developing ways to use nuclear power to send spacecraft to their destinations. Nuclear propulsion could greatly reduce the journey time to Mars, perhaps cutting a voyage of more than six months to three or four months.

The idea of nuclear propulsion in space goes back to the cold war. But Nasa has been pursuing it more aggressively since Jared Isaacman took over as the agency’s chief in December 2025. Isaacman is a well-known advocate of the technology and says it can “truly unlock humankind’s ability to explore among the stars”.

In March 2026, the agency even announced an uncrewed, nuclear-powered mission to the red planet, targeted for late 2028.

Every spacecraft begins its journey fighting Earth’s gravity by burning chemical fuel. Rockets mix fuel with an oxidiser, ignite them, and force the expanding gas through a nozzle. According to Isaac Newton’s third law, when gas pushes downward, the rocket gets an equal push upward.

Chemical propulsion is powerful, reliable, and quite simply the only practical way to leave Earth’s gravity. But it comes with a severe limitation. Rockets must carry both their fuel and, in most cases, the oxidiser needed to burn it.

That means much of a rocket’s mass at launch is propellant, not payload. The longer and more ambitious the journey, the more propellant is needed, and the heavier the rocket becomes.

Mars is far enough away that a long journey time, the threat to astronauts from cosmic radiation, the mass required to carry life-support systems and constraints on the return journey all pose serious problems for planning a mission.

This is why engineers keep looking for more sustainable alternatives to chemical rockets.

Two technologies

Nasa’s space nuclear propulsion programme distinguishes between two main
approaches: thermal propulsion and electric propulsion.

Nuclear thermal propulsion follows a three-step process. First, the nuclear reactor inside the engine splits uranium atoms to generate massive amounts of heat. Second, liquid hydrogen is pumped through the reactor core, where it flash boils and expands into a high-pressure gas. Third, this super-heated gas is blasted out of a nozzle at high velocities to push the spacecraft forward.

According to the US Department of Energy, nuclear thermal propulsion can reduce travel times to Mars by up to 25% and, more importantly, limit a crew’s exposure to cosmic radiation. It would also widen the launch windows in which spacecraft can feasibly fly to Mars.

These depend on alignments of Earth and Mars that come along every couple of years. Greater flexibility with launch windows would allow astronauts to abort missions and return to Earth if necessary.

Nuclear electric propulsion, on the other hand, uses a nuclear reactor to generate electricity. This powers a type of engine called an ion thruster that accelerates charged atoms (like xenon) out of a nozzle. If nuclear thermal propulsion is the sprint approach, nuclear electric propulsion is the marathon option. Nuclear electric propulsion produces very low thrust, but it can run continuously for years.

This fuel efficient technology is perfect for sending robot explorers or heavy cargo (like habitats and food supplies) to Mars months before the humans arrive. In deep space, a small thrust applied for a long time can matter enormously.

Advertisement

A chemical rocket is like a powerful kick. Nuclear electric propulsion is more like a persistent hand on the shoulder.

It could make it easier to move heavy cargo through deep space, provide abundant onboard power, and remain effective far from the Sun, where the energy available to solar arrays is weaker.

This is the main idea behind Nasa’s Space Reactor-1 Freedom mission. SR-1 Freedom is a nuclear electric propulsion mission, which Nasa is currently targeting for launch in December 2028.

It would be the first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft. It will journey to Mars to prove that nuclear energy can provide the sustained, high-efficiency power needed for deep space travel.

On arrival at Mars, roughly one year after its launch, SR-1 Freedom is expected to deploy the Skyfall payload. This is a set of small helicopter drones that will scout the Martian surface.

Nasa says the mission will establish nuclear hardware that can be used on other flights. It could also create a regulatory precedent and activate an industrial base for future systems based on nuclear fission.

For human exploration, the combination of both nuclear electric propulsion and nuclear thermal propulsion is very attractive. Because nuclear electric propulsion is incredibly fuel-efficient, it can move massive amounts of weight (habitats, years of food, rovers, and life-support machinery) using very little propellant.

It might not matter so much if cargo takes more than nine months to arrive on Mars. But our fragile human bodies mean that longer stays in space increase the risk of cancer from cosmic radiation and cause bone and muscle loss.

The second of these issues is because bones and muscles are not being exercised in microgravity. Nuclear thermal propulsion provides the high thrust needed to reach Mars in three to four months, drastically reducing these health risks.

Steep path

Despite the clear benefits, the path to the launch pad is steep, and the 2028 launch of SR-1 Freedom appears incredibly ambitious. A nuclear electric spacecraft needs a reactor, shielding, heat management, power conversion, radiators, electric thrusters, control systems and fault tolerance. Each of these components of the mission requires testing and careful integration for them to work together.

Reactor heat must be controlled without damaging other components. Thrusters
must operate reliably for months. Other factors can interact in ways that only emerge when spacecraft subsystems are put together. If SR-1 Freedom is to make its December 2028 window, Nasa has very little time to assemble a mission that would normally require years of design, integration and review.

Nuclear propulsion has spent more than 60 years somewhere between engineering reality and technological myth – even though the physics has always been sound.

What has proved harder is making the technology safe, affordable, licensable (able to meet regulatory safety standards) and ready to fly on a real mission schedule. So far, the US has launched only one fission reactor into orbit, SNAP-10A, in 1965.

SR-1 Freedom could create the pathway for more capable systems to follow. Nuclear electric propulsion will not make Mars easy. But it might start to break down barriers to travelling to Mars, and that is a prospect we should be excited about.