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Monday May 11, 2009
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In an interesting twist on the politics of nuclear weapons proliferation, NASA is running out of the fuel necessary to power its deep-space missions, according to the Associated Press. "The end of the Cold War's nuclear weapons buildup means that the U.S. space agency does not have enough plutonium for future faraway space probes--except for a few missions already scheduled," the report said, citing a new study released Thursday by the National Academy of Sciences.
The problem affects any space mission that extends further than Jupiter. Why Jupiter? Anything beyond that can't use solar power because of the distance. So instead, NASA has been using Plutonium 238. That's a substance that isn't found in nature and has only been produced as part of nuclear weapons programs. The U.S. stopped producing it about 20 years ago, ran out, and has been sourcing it from Russia, which is also about to run out.
As a result, the Department of Energy--by law, the only U.S. agency that can make plutonium--has announced that it will restart its program, and requested $30 million in next year's budget for preliminary design and engineering, according to the report. (Image credit: NASA/Cassini Mission)
Posted By:
Jamie Lendino
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