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Nuclear Space Craft
I think the whole concept is pretty cool. In theory, the power will last much longer than, say, what the Mars rovers are using. Not only that, but the power will be much more.
However, the JIMO (Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter) is slated to be around cold things. Granted, it's only an orbiter, but what happens when they want to send one of these to the surface? Will the nuclear power plants cause any unwanted changes? I mean, I think everyone expects more out of some of the moons on Jupiter than they did from Mars. But even trace nuclear leakage could cause a problem -- especially with microbes, or whatever.
Either way, launch date is now pushed out from 2011 to 2015 or so. And Jupiter is just a whee bit farther than Mars. Hopefully, though, there will be gobs and gobs of other missions to keep us entertained between now and then. And hopefully they start doing a lot more parallel missions, too. ;)
Posted by Shane on February 20, 2004 7:29 AM | Permalink
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