It's not just uninformed or the non-scientific who will protest.
Don't forget that one of the leading figures in protesting the launch of the Cassini probe was the well known physicist (famous for string theory), Michio Kaku. He is totally opposed to nuclear systems in space.
I called in when Dr. Kaku was on a local radio program discussing the Cassini launch in 1993(?). He was talking about how we could build better solar panels and stuff, but I pressed him: what about the outer solar system? No way could you use solar panels for a Pluto mission. Nor could you use solar for a Europa mission with radar sounder, or lots of other things.
Kaku conceeded the point, that there probably is a large class of missions that simply have to be nuclear, if they are done at all. Therefore, he would not do such missions.
His bottom line: if in the end there is no way to explore the solar system without using nuclear power, then the solar system is not worth exploring.
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It's not just uninformed or the non-scientific who will protest.
Don't forget that one of the leading figures in protesting the launch of the Cassini probe was the well known physicist (famous for string theory), Michio Kaku. He is totally opposed to nuclear systems in space.
I called in when Dr. Kaku was on a local radio program discussing the Cassini launch in 1993(?). He was talking about how we could build better solar panels and stuff, but I pressed him: what about the outer solar system? No way could you use solar panels for a Pluto mission. Nor could you use solar for a Europa mission with radar sounder, or lots of other things.
Kaku conceeded the point, that there probably is a large class of missions that simply have to be nuclear, if they are done at all. Therefore, he would not do such missions.
His bottom line: if in the end there is no way to explore the solar system without using nuclear power, then the solar system is not worth exploring.