- NASA and the Department of Energy's National Nuclear
Security Administration - Naval Reactors (NR) today signed a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) that will lead to the development, design, delivery,
and operational support of civilian space nuclear reactors within NASA's
Project Prometheus.
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- NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and DOE NNSA Deputy Administrator
for Naval Reactors Admiral Frank. L. "Skip" Bowman, U.S. Navy,
signed the MOU at NASA Headquarters.
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- "The development of this space nuclear power system
will provide an important new capability to NASA for carrying out the Vision
for Space Exploration, allowing us to explore farther and do more science
than ever before," said Administrator O'Keefe. "This work will
lead to the development of safe and reliable power generating systems that
will alleviate current limitations in space power generation and propulsion
that have persisted for decades, and which limit our ability to explore
the solar system," he added.
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- The Naval Reactors organization brings 50-plus years
of practical experience in developing safe, rugged, reliable, compact and
long-lived reactor systems designed to operate in unforgiving environments.
Naval Reactors is a joint DOE and Department of the Navy organization responsible
for all aspects of naval nuclear propulsion.
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- The partnership is responsible for developing the first
NASA spacecraft, the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) spacecraft, that
will take advantage of a nuclear-reactor energy source for exploring our
solar system.
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- The reactor system will provide substantially more electrical
power than available for past missions. This will greatly enhance the capability
of ion-drive propulsion, the number and variety of scientific instruments
on the spacecraft, the rate of data transmission, and orbital maneuvering.
d power than has been available to previous science probes and demonstrate
nuclear reactors can be operated safely and reliably in space to provide
electrical power needed for propulsion and scientific exploration. The
mission would be launched sometime in the next decade.
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- For more information about NASA on the Internet, visit:
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- http://www.nasa.gov
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