From: marsh@panix.com   
      
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   On Sat, 24 Oct 2020, dumpster4@hotmail.com wrote:   
      
   > Are nuclear rockets the future of space travel?  Or will the anti-nuke crowd   
   win   
   > out?   
      
   To they thinkk that they can launch a nuclear rocket from Earth?   
      
   > "During an Oct. 9 Aviation Week webinar moderated by Space Editor Irene   
   Klotz,   
   > three former NASA administrators agreed that the U.S. needs to harness   
   nuclear   
   > technology to propel humans beyond low Earth orbit.   
   >   
   > With the rapid development of the Chinese space program, the U.S. does not   
   have   
   > the luxury of waiting to develop new technology, said Dan Goldin, who led   
   NASA   
   > during three presidential administrations from 1992 to 2001. “We’ve been   
   using   
   > the same damn rocket technology since Apollo. It’s time to grow up and say   
   the   
   > magic term ‘nuclear.’ There I said it, ‘nuclear,’” Goldin said.   
   “We’re going to   
   > need nuclear power on planetary bodies. We’re going to need nuclear power   
   for   
   > propulsion. And if America intends to be a world leader, we’re going to   
   have to   
   > grow up and learn to live with nuclear.”   
   >   
   > The U.S. has been exploring the technology for a long time, points out Sean   
   > O’Keefe, NASA administrator during George W. Bush’s presidency in   
   2001-05. But   
   > he says the nation needs to pick up the pace. Project Prometheus, an in-space   
   > propulsion effort started in 2003 to develop radioisotope power systems and   
   > nuclear power and propulsion systems. The program was designed to support a   
   > space science mission to study the icy moons of Jupiter, but it was scrapped   
   in   
   > favor of higher priorities.   
   >   
   > The technology in Prometheus “has been developed now to a much higher   
   extent,   
   > but nowhere near as quickly as we needed to see significant changes over the   
   > last 15 years,” O’Keefe said. “We’re in a better place now in terms   
   of   
   > developing that technology that has been used on a limited basis in the   
   past—to   
   > seriously examining that as an in-space propulsion capacity. We just need to   
   do   
   > it a hell of a lot faster.”"   
   >   
   > See:   
   >   
   > https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/space/will-nasa-use-nuc   
   ear-propulsion-faster-crewed-mission-transport   
   >   
   >   
   >   
      
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