A new way to use plutonium for power could help NASA explore the solar system, and should be flight tested as soon as possible, a new report says.

Russia has begun some ambitious space projects, including a new system to protect spacecraft from space junk and a nuclear-powered engine for future spaceships, according to Russian news reports.

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

NASA is running out of the special kind of plutonium needed to power deep space probes, worrying planetary scientists who say the U. S. urgently needs to restart production of plutonium-238.

Spinning around the Earth for more than two decades, an old Soviet satellite, replete with a nuclear reactor, has acted up. Ground-watching surveillance gear has picked up dozens of small particles spewing into space from the 21-year-old satellite.

NASA is facing the prospect of trying to explore deep space without the aid of the long-lasting nuclear batteries it has relied upon for decades to send spacecraft to destinations where sunlight is in short supply.

NASA will accelerate missions featuring space nuclear power which marks a major milestone for robotic exploration, but is a controversial move among groups that oppose space nuclear power because of launch safety concerns.

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.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, scheduled to launch on January 17th, will answer many questions on its nine-year voyage out to Pluto. However, activists are concerned that the nuclear-powered spacecraft could cause significant radioactive contamination if there is an accident during launch.

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.