As space agencies set their sights deeper into space than ever before, they’re going to need some innovative new tech to get the job done — and nuclear power might do the trick.

Nuclear energy has aided trips to the cosmos for six decades, taking our understanding of the solar system to new heights. But just how far away are these technologies from becoming humanity’s most tried and true method to power vehicles and usher in a new era of extraterrestrial exploration?

As Thomas Zurbuchen, former associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, put it, “Nuclear power has opened the solar system to exploration … And we’re just getting started.”

Twelve years ago, Japan’s Tōhoku region was hit by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the country’s history. It lasted approximately six minutes and caused a tsunami that devastated the region and killed more than 19,000 people.

The 2011 disaster left a permanent mark on Japan’s cultural consciousness, including that of filmmaker Makoto Shinkai. But as the years passed and the memory of the disaster was largely confined to ruins scatted around Tōhoku, Shinkai began to worry that it would be forgotten.

“There’s this divide between those who experienced the disaster firsthand and everyone else,” Shinkai tells Inverse in an interview. His latest film, Suzume, is designed to capture both audiences.