Research Council Report Questions NASA Nuclear Propulsion Program

Posted on: Sep. 1st, 2005 || Source: aviationnow.ecnext.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

Research Council Report Questions NASA Nuclear Propulsion Program

A new report from the National Academies' National Research Council questions NASA's ongoing effort to develop spacecraft nuclear propulsion systems, recommending the agency study the technologies in more depth to ensure they will be worth the investment.

"The committee is concerned that NASA's current nuclear propulsion research and development activities may be too narrowly focused on a single technology - nuclear-electric propulsion - and believes that NASA's efforts might benefit from a broader consideration of other technological approaches," the report says.

Nuclear propulsion technologies should be investigated more thoroughly to determine if they really can provide fast, affordable access to the outer solar system, as NASA hopes, and move large payloads in the inner solar system in a cost-effective way, the committee said.

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