Blue Origin wins defense contract to design nuclear-powered rocket

Kent-based Blue Origin and two other aerospace companies companies have been awarded $27 million worth of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contracts to design and demonstrate a future nuclear powered spacecraft. DARPA announced the research contracts on its website without revealing how much each company received. But a DARPA spokesperson identified Blue Origin as the winner of a $2.5 million deal to develop operational systems and a design concept for the future thermal nuclear propulsion…