Nuclear Power Sources and Future Space Exploration
- Paper number
IAC-05-E6.2.09
- Author
Mr. Steven Mirmina, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Headquarters, United States
- Year
2005
- Abstract
On January 14, 2004, President Bush announced a multi-decade long “Vision for Space Exploration” that encompasses human and robotic travel to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Central to this Vision, NASA is pursuing “Project Prometheus,” a program that will manifest NASA’s intention to revolutionize exploration in the twenty-first century. Project Prometheus represents a tremendous development in technology, utilizing new and highly advanced power systems, including nuclear fission reactor technology, to enable systemic and propulsive power generation in space. Prometheus hopes to cut the travel time for a human journey to Mars from three years round-trip to a mere ninety days each way. It will provide spacecraft and potential future outposts with thousands to hundreds-of-thousands of watts of electricity. In light of such innovation and on the brink of such a fundamental transformation in space exploration, it is appropriate to examine international legal issues related to nuclear-powered space exploration. In this Article, I provide a brief explanation of what NPS is and how it works. I then explain some factual background and provide a brief history of the use of NPS in space. Next, the focus will shift to a discussion of the international legal regimes governing NPS both in space and, to a limited extent, on Earth, before launch. After the international legal regime, the United States’ domestic regulatory and procedural structure is examined, with a discussion of an illustrative case in which plaintiffs attempted to enjoin the U.S. Government from launching the NPS-equipped Cassini spacecraft. I then examine the rationale and need for NPS in space, while advocating extensive public participation and transparency in the safety reviews and decision making related to use of this technology. Finally, the Article calls for spacefaring nations to establish and observe an international, technically-based safety framework to provide assurance to the world population that space NPS will be used in a safe manner and to facilitate bilateral and multilateral cooperation on missions using nuclear reactors and technologies in space.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-E6.2.09.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.