HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Scientists and graduate students at three U.S. universities, including Oregon State University, have won NASA-sponsored contracts to study nuclear-powered rocket propulsion and space power systems that might be used on missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Three $30,000 research contracts were awarded to scientists at OSU, the Florida Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign through Nuclear Energy Research for Space Exploration and Propulsion, a program that is being administered for NASA by the Alabama Space Grant Consortium.

Two of the grants will support studies of possible nuclear-powered rocket components, while the third will be used to study a small nuclear power system that might be used for lunar or Martian missions.

The winning scientists and their research projects are:

• Brian Woods, department of nuclear engineering and radiation health physics, OSU. Woods and a graduate student will analyze and test a novel, small radioisotope nuclear power system.

• Daniel Kirk, Florida Institute of Technology. Kirk and three students will analyze and test a grooved-ring nuclear thermal rocket reactor geometry, which might be capable of superior performance and endurance.

• Rodney Burton, University of Illinois. Burton and graduate student Robert Thomas will test a gallium electromagnetic thruster, which would efficiently convert 50,000 watts of electric power into rocket thrust.

The contracts were awarded after a nationwide competition to identify university research capabilities in nuclear propulsion and power systems needed for space exploration, according to a news release.