Nuclear-Reactor Spacecraft Poor For Astronomy

zavvy · Aug 31, 2005

Nuclear-Reactor Spacecraft Poor For Astronomy LINK Spacecraft powered by nuclear fission reactors are of limited use to astronomers, the US National Research Council panel has concluded. The report calls into question NASA's multi-billion-dollar Prometheus project, which aims to develop such spacecraft for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and the outer solar system. Early reactor technology was used in space once by the US in 1965 and a couple of dozen times by the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1988. Now, NASA hopes to improve on the technology, which releases heat by splitting uranium. The "nuclear electric propulsion" NASA is focusing on could provide up to a million watts of electricity to power instruments and propel spacecraft using a stream of ions. This could support many more scientific instruments, beam back more data, and allow spacecraft to visit more targets than current technologies. But the NRC report finds that the reactors would be virtually useless for - and could even hamper - observations of astrophysical phenomena beyond our solar system. "Reactors are messy things," says NRC panel member Gary Bernstein, an astronomer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, US. "They generate huge numbers of radiation particles and gamma rays." He says these by-products of fission could effectively "blind" space telescopes such as Hubble, Spitzer, and Swift if the reactors operated near the Earth, as they did in the past. "We didn't see a benefit of this technology for any kind of pure science that peers outside the solar system or does fundamental physics tests," he says. Hot hydrogen Nor did the panel find that NASA's nuclear programme would support its planned human missions. The NRC acknowledged that fission reactors would be useful for both space travel and long-term human bases on the

tomnackid · Aug 31, 2005

Sounds like the anti-nuke forces in academia would rather cut off their noses to spite their faces. How would gamma radiation interfere with Hubble? Its a VISIBLE LIGHT telescope! These people are willing to lie and distort their own science to advance their agendas.

Saiph · Aug 31, 2005

actually it can mess up the hubble. Though I think they may miss the point a bit anyways. The gamma rays and such it releases can cause noise on CCD chips used in space telescopes. Then again, there are already gamma rays present, I'm sure the reactor could be shielded. And the primary use of such reactors is for interplanetary missions. Not LEO observatories. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

tomnackid · Aug 31, 2005

Its already in space above the atmosphere and subjected to gama, x, and cosmic rays. Its fairly simple to shield ICs--just not usually done for earth based chips except in defense situations. This "criticism" is just a big red herring.

Saiph · Aug 31, 2005

My guess is that they meant having the reactor on a craft like hubble would be a bad idea. And it probably is. having a strong gama source that close isn't likely to be a good idea. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

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