Russia should build a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective manned missions to Mars and other planets, the nation's space chief said Thursday.

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.

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.

NASA officials and environmentalists react strongly to news that the Bush administration might be significantly increasing funding for nuclear propulsion research.

Nuclear propulsion for spacecraft will become NASA's highest priority as the agency seeks close to $1 billion in fiscal 2003 for research programs, with technology enablers taking priority over planetary missions.

Fission-powered rockets could help open up the solar system?s vast energy reserves.

NASA is funding research into nuclear propulsion which holds the promise of faster, more direct, more experiment-packed missions to places where sunlight is too feeble to power spacecraft.

Ralph McNutt, a senior space physicist at John Hopkins, argues that NASA should not rely on untested nuclear propulsion for the time-sensitive Pluto mission.

NASA has proposed spending almost a billion dollars over the next five years to develop atomic-powered rockets that could speed spacecraft across the heavens and nuclear-reactors to energize outposts on distant planets.