Prometheus Rising!

[The Mad Monk]

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=714

Thanks to Drudge for the link.

NASA Set to Unveil 'Jupiter Tour' Mission
Keith Cowing
Wednesday, January 29, 2003

When NASA rolls out its FY 2004 budget on Monday a large new planetary exploration mission will be revealed. The Bush Adminstration has signed off on a multi-billion-dollar-class mission dubbed "Jupiter Tour' - a mission which embodies a radical departure from the past four decades of planetary exploration.

Jupiter Tour would utilize a sophisticated spacecraft capable of multiple jumps from an orbit around one jovian moon to an orbit around another. Such a capability will allow close, detailed, and long-term studies to be made of many of the members of Jupiter's retinue of 40 (or more) moons.

The mission is slated for the 2009/2010 time frame and is expected to last more than a decade. Jupiter Tour will use an advanced nuclear-powered propulsion system developed under the umbrella of the newly-focused "Prometheus" program.

The cost of the program is projected to be at least $3 billion through Fiscal Year 2008.

It looks like they want Prometheus to have practical applications by the end of this decade. That's a bit quicker than some poeple have thought.

[The Mad Monk]

NO interest? At All?!

Come on, people, we're talking nuclear fire here! Practical atomic rocketry, within the next seven years! This could open the door to rapid expansion into the rest of the solar system, or as some luddites may have it, the end of life on this world!

[Spiffor]

I don't know anything about rocketry, so I don't know why this news is so interetsing.
What is the Prometheus program ?
Are nuclear propelled rockets such a novelty ?
Is 10 years so much faster than our current voyages for these distances ?
Thanks for the answers

[Az]

Kick ass.

I wish you USians would actually build a colony on the Moon.

There are economic incentives as well:
mining and shipbuilding. It would be much cheaper to launch sattelites from THERE, for example.

Plus, there is a program to power all cellphones and PDAs through microwaves, to be collected from space. the drawback is the cost of launch. If we'd launch them from the moon, it would be much cheaper.

[DRoseDARs]

Spiffor (and others with the same questions):

The Prometheus program is simply a move by NASA to use nuclear propulsion for its space probes. Up until now, nuclear propulsion (so far as the general public knows) has NEVER been used before. The reference to "10 years" is speaking of the development of a feasible drive that can be put to use by the program, not the travel times. You're right that 10 years is comparable to current times, but nuclear propulsion would cut those times by a bit.

Nuclear drives can create greater power for thrust, thereby cutting travel times. They use far less fuel than standard chemical rockets, meaning either smaller probes or more room for instruments. Nuclear materials HAVE been launched into space before, but I believe only for powering probes (Cassini - Saturn mission), not propulsion. The primary concern about using nuclear materials for ANY purpose in space is getting them there. Sending them up in the Space Shuttle might be ok since only once has the SS met with disaster since the start of that program in the 1970's, whereas unmanned rocket launches have the disturbingly frequent tendancy to blowup, either on the launchpad or in midflight.

[Main_Brain]

You could also build it directly in Space

[Spiffor]

Thx Drosedars. I now understand why it is such important news

[Az]

Just what I've said. we could mine some material that our current reactors are capable of fusing on the moon, build a ship on the moon, etc.

But that would take a massive colonization effort, with tens of thousands of people on the moon.

however, I say, LET'S DO IT!

[Felch]

If we give Israel the moon, would you give up Palestine?

[Sandman]

Space exploration is usually good news, but I'm a bit sceptical about this.

1. Can it really be afforded?
2. Is it really a front to militarise space?

[Willem]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
Up until now, nuclear propulsion (so far as the general public knows) has NEVER been used before.

IIRC, there is currently one satellite that's using nuclear propulsion. I forget the name of it right now, or the deatils of it's mission, but I'm pretty certain there's one up there now.

Frankly, I'll be more impressed when I hear that they're going to develop a plasma drive. I read an article about that a short while ago and it sounds rather interesting. They have to use massive magnetic fields in or order to contain the plasm areactions, since metal alone would simply melt because of the operational temperatures required.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Azazel


I wish you USians would actually build a colony on the Moon.

I wish someone would! I mean, it's been thirty since we've proven that we can do it, and there's still nothing up there. What are we waiting for?

[Willem]

Originally posted by Spiffor
I don't know anything about rocketry, so I don't know why this news is so interetsing.
What is the Prometheus program ?
Are nuclear propelled rockets such a novelty ?
Is 10 years so much faster than our current voyages for these distances ?
Thanks for the answers

There's also talk of using nuclear propulsion to send a manned expedition to Mars. Using that type of engine will cut the time needed to reach the planet by two thirds. It would be a major step towards estabishing our presence throughout the rest of the solar system.

[Ned]

Azazel, perhaps we could convince either or both Arafat or Saddam to captain the Prometheus. Give them something useful to do and we would never seen them again.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Azazel
Just what I've said. we could mine some material that our current reactors are capable of fusing on the moon, build a ship on the moon, etc.

But that would take a massive colonization effort, with tens of thousands of people on the moon.

however, I say, LET'S DO IT!

Another advantage of colonizing the moon:

Helium-3 has shown some promise as an element that can be used to develop nuclear "fusion" reactors. This element is quite rare on earth, I'm not sure of the reasons why, but apparently the moon would be a good source.