Brucie stumbles into NASA/PEIS

Date: Apr 18, 2005

Brucie stumbles into NASA/PEIS

Date: Apr 19, 2005

Bruce,

Ask when and where they expect to test a prototype reactor for in-space-use!
(I like the straight forward questions!)

Safe trip Brucie!

Terry

Date: Apr 22, 2005

I don't believe I saw this report on the NS lead page - so in case you missed it....

http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050420/NEWS02/504200375/1007

April 20, 2005

NASA pushes nuclear usage

Agency keeps local environment in mind while aiming for moon, Mars

BY CHRIS KRIDLER

FLORIDA TODAY

CAPE CANAVERAL - Nuclear-reactor-powered space missions to the moon, Mars and the outer planets may be a decade away, but NASA introduced the idea Tuesday to their likely launch site, the Space Coast.

"We have to get to know this universe we live in," NASA chief scientist Jim Garvin said in a public meeting at the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa.

Future missions will accomplish a lot more science if they're powered by a reactor, Garvin said in an earlier news conference at Kennedy Space Center. Cassini, now looping around Saturn and its moons, has a power source "equivalent to a good-size hair dryer," he said.

Project Prometheus is NASA's plan to develop nuclear reactor systems to propel and power robotic and human space missions. If it gets enough funding, the first mission could fly by 2014.

NASA recently deferred a complex Jupiter mission as its demonstration flight and instead will choose another option this summer, Prometheus director Ray Taylor said.

The Department of Energy's Naval Reactors Program is charged with developing the space reactors. No technical designs have been worked out yet.

The program has an excellent safety record when it comes to producing nuclear power for its naval vessels, said James Mosquera, the Energy Department's deputy program manager for space reactors.

The two meetings Tuesday were aimed at getting public input on the potential environmental impact of such launches.

Two people came forward to make a comment at the afternoon meeting; the second session was scheduled for Tuesday evening.

Bruce Behrhorst of Boca Raton, representing a space advocacy Web site (nuclear space.com), told Garvin and other officials he was in favor of the program and hoped the public was kept informed.

Cocoa resident Lisa Menendez, whose husband is a space shuttle engineer, encouraged them not to rush to complete the program. "Be safe, be grounded, be careful, and don't go beyond what you can do," she said.

Among those in the audience was Brevard County emergency manager Bob Lay, who said the nuclear initiative was a chance to prove the technology was safe -- even for producing power at home, which was in short supply after the hurricanes.

"I think this is important so the public can understand the safety that's involved and the reliability of this kind of power," he said. "Because we can't just continue to use fossil fuel to do things."

Contact Kridler at 242-3633 or ckridler@flatoday.net