h/t Stephen "Vodka" Green and Gizmodo, Howe Industries promises fission-driven pulsed plasma. Harry Wolper in Green's comments informs us that this is no Orion rocket; this one is smaller-scale, "only" delivering 100kN thrust with its 5000 N/N s specific-impulse. So if nothing else NASA might actually get permission to torch it up, as with FireStar, like from TLL2.
RocketStar did their boast when at SBIR phase 2. Howe has completed the NIAC phase 1. Why the different acronyms? - because RocketStar are working with the military. Although they did get to test it on a NASA Artemis mission.
Howe's promise meanwhile is to get a manned mission to Deimos ("Mars") in two months, rather than the Hohmann six - or the Aldrin five. Unlike with Hohmann or Aldrin: here the transport must take the engine, and use it, to accelerate and to decelerate.
Even with those longer-duration missions, someone's got to bring some kind of engine to dock with Deimos which presently lacks a spaceport. Howe's engine looks ... let's say, competitive with RocketStar's. It helps that Howe supplied some numbers which RocketStar didn't.
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