Lockheed Martin to Build Nuclear Powered Spacecraft

LouisvilleDebugger writes "The BBC reports that Lockheed Martin have received a $6M contract to develop the nuclear powered JIMO, or Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter. (According to the NASA project site, the first probes would not launch before 2011 due to development lead time.) On arrival at Jupiter, the extra power allows the probe to orbit each of three of the Galilean moons (Ganymede, Callisto, and most challenging from a radiation exposure standpoint, Europa) in turn, presumably helping to establish the possibility of liquid water and hence, life within the Jovian system. JIMO is a sub-project of Project Prometheus, initiated by NASA this year for the purpose of demonstrating that nuclear powered and propelled spacecraft may be safely designed and tested."

Comments

safety isn't even the issue

[73939133]

The real reason the US government is pushing for nuclear propulsion for civilian use is that it gives it a cover under which to explore putting other kinds of nuclear devices into orbits: nuclear-powered particle weapons, atom bombs, etc.

Right now, that's hard to do because there is no infrastructure for developing and deploying that kind of technology--anything combining nuclear power and space would have to be done in complete secrecy. But once there is a thriving civilian industry, nobody will notice if a little bit of that work is diverted for military purposes.

Because of its military implications, the US should not be permitted to do this unilaterally. If we ever get nuclear propulsion, the technology should be developed openly and any nation using it should be subject to tight international inspections and controls.

Stand by for Nuklear Challenger Event...

[gacp]

Given the history of reliability of US spacecraft, I'd feel much safer if the contract had been awarded to the Russians.