When Stanley Kubrick filmed his masterpiece of 2001:Space Odyssey written by Arthur C. Clarke, he imagined a high level of space technological capability by 2001, where humans could establish space hotels, travel easily to the moon, and have human space exploration capability to Jupiter and beyond. Unfortunately, as we are in year 2023, almost none of these predictions have come true and it can be said that human civilization has slowed down in its space achievements. However, in retrospect, 2021 was a year where more flights were conducted into space than any other year and 2022 saw a proliferation of new space companies and projects. Nevertheless, with the exit of Voyager 2 from our solar system a new era has started. The future of space exploration lies at the edge of the solar system where heliopause is located as the shock termination of solar particles occur there and theoretically interstellar space starts beyond that region. Thus, its essential to plan and execute missions to the start of interstellar space to help pave the way for missions beyond our solar system. While many technological breakthroughs are awaited, advanced nuclear propulsion technologies such as gaseous core propulsion and fusion propulsion are the likely candidates for such missions within acceptable time frames. Since waiting 30 years or more for a deep space probe to leave the solar system is unacceptable by today’s standards, these novel techniques must be developed by spacefaring nations to pave the way for even more advanced missions in the 21st century. Achieving these goals can also make it possible to create human crewed missions to Jupiter and beyond as it was imagined for the year 2001. All of these are technically possible with the existing space technology of 2022 and can be implemented with focused RD programs and budgets from governments and the private sector. This paper demonstrates a deep space probe with nuclear power and propulsion which can achieve such a mission within a relatively short mission span. A case study is presented with existing but adapted technology which shows the necessary parameters required for such a mission including specific impulse, thrust capability and mission timings. Reasonable goals are set for this case study mission and the importance of achieving these objectives are highlighted to pave the way for similar research and missions in the very near future.

Prof. Dr. Ugur Guven is an Aerospace Engineer (Ph.D., BSc) and a Nuclear Engineer (MSc). He is now currently working as the Senior Professor of Aerospace Engineering and conducting research related to Interstellar Travel and the Utilization of Nuclear Energy for Space Missions and Space Habitats.  On the international front, he is serving as the Advisory Council Member of the United Nations Center for Space Science and Space Technology Education in the Asia-Pacific Region (UN CSSTEAP). Dr. Guven is the Honorary Executive Coordinator of the Indo-French Academic Alliance and he is currently busy forming the Indo-French Aerospace Consortium. In addition, Dr. Ugur Guven is an expert in the field of lunar settlement and he is actively involved with NASA LEAG meetings and Lunar workshops.

Furthermore, Dr. Guven helps provide space education and STEM education assistance as Executive Advisor to Phoenix Space UK in London, UK and he is also the CEO of Prometheus Space Ltd. in London, which bridges the academia and the industry in the space sector. In addition, Dr. UgurGuven is an academic board member of LIPS Research Foundation in collaboration with European International University, Paris and he also serves on the Advisory Board Bellatrix Aerospace India, which has been chosen to be in the top 5 start-ups in Aerospace sector in Asia.

Dr Guven has 25+ years of work experience and has 25 books and over 250+ academic publications comprising of journal papers, conference proceedings, project reports, articles.

Dr Ugur GUVEN continues as an academic adviser to several government agencies, institutions, universities, international alliances, foundations, and companies across the world in academic development programs and international outreach programs.