The US has officially notified the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency that NASA is preparing to launch New Horizons, its Pluto-bound mission carrying 10.9 kilograms of radioactive material. The notification is intended to warn other states of the possibility of a launch accident that could scatter plutonium in the atmosphere.
There is a 1 in 350 chance that NASA's planned mission to Pluto could malfunction, causing an explosion and releasing radioactive plutonium in the six-county area surrounding Cape Canaveral, according to government risk assessments.
For the first time, and with Bush administration support, NASA intends to develop a nuclear-powered spaceship. But some oppose the plan over fears of a nuclear accident.
Old Soviet nuclear powered satellites leaked a trail of menacing radioactive droplets that have become a debris threat to other spacecraft.
Anti-nuclear protesters argue that NASA plans to use nuclear power propulsion in space increases the risks of radiation contamination both during production and in the event of a launch accident.
Anti-nuclear activists and pro-space advocates square off on whether nuclear powered spacecraft are safe.
The author argues that NASA's nuclear propulsion program increases the risks of catastrophic nuclear accidents on the launchpad and paves the way for the militarization of space.
Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists reports on the re-introduction of space nuclear power into NASA and defense budgets.
NASA is thinking about using nuclear boosters to lift rockets into orbit at a fraction of the cost of today's all-chemical launchers. The agency hopes the public will be less resistant to nuclear-assisted rockets now that the Bush administration is considering a return to nuclear power. But anti-nuclear protesters claim nuclear launchers would make accidents much more damaging and accuse NASA of "playing Russian roulette".
With increasingly ambitious missions planned to Mars and beyond, and with solar energy having demonstrated its limitations, engineers and managers inside and outside NASA say nuclear energy may be powering its way to a new dawn in space. Robert Roy Britt covers the new era of space nuclear power in this lengthy article on Space.com