KitKat Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2684329.stm President Bush is set to endorse using nuclear power to explore Mars and open up the outer Solar System. He is expected to back the US space agency's recent nuclear propulsion initiative, Project Prometheus, either in his State of the Union speech, due on 28 January, or later this year when he submits his 2004 budget to Congress. It is believed he will give the initiative $1bn over five years, arguing that nuclear propulsion represents an essential technology for the manned and unmanned exploration of space. Supporters say nuclear power could change the nature of space exploration, but add that it will take many years and significant resources to develop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerichohol Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Interesting. I suppose it was inevitable. This caught my eye from the article : But it is inevitable that the development of the new propulsion systems will spark controversy from anti-nuclear groups. They opposed the launching of Nasa's Cassini probe to Saturn in 1997. The spacecraft uses plutonium to generate electricity for its onboard instruments. They feared a launch failure or an accidental re-entry could have led to widespread contamination. That is always a possiblility and the question arises is it safe to do so without risk of an accident ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CloudEngineer Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 What would happen if the thing blew up in space :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuarterSwede Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 I think it is a risk we need to take to further our exploration of our universe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caustiK Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 i don't think "blowing up" is really a problem. nuclear power's catastrophe is a "meltdown" i believe - not a good thing but no explosions. i think this is what happend in chernobyl. surely in space such a thing wouldn't matter, since there's plenty of radiation and such out there anyways. an accident on reentry might have such a possibilty though... i suppose they would design it so that nuclear power is only in use when in space though - some other power generation for reentry so as to not cause any problems? dunno :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sys32 Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 There has never been any problems with re-entry before. I don't know why we're worrying about it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenMaster Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2684329.stmPresident Bush is set to endorse using nuclear power to explore Mars and open up the outer Solar System. Great, maybe the "Axis of Evil" North Korea/Iraq will say they were planning a mission in outer space and not for weapons. What would happen if the shuttle were to explode aka Challenger during take off within the atmosphere? I would move out of Florida and the surronding States ASAP if it gets implemented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badall Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 well for a start there has been an accident on re-entry before with a satalite that was not ment to go in to re-entry, it had a small payload of plutonium which was vaporised in the uper atmosfear and has settled all over the earth since the the early 80's when it happened, they don't brag about that one happening for obvious reasons. The plutonium was used to keep certian parts warm and not for a power supply like what the solar cells are for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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