Agency expected to seek funding to develop way to travel 3 times faster
PETER PAE
Los Angeles Times

Hoping to pave the way for the human exploration of Mars within the next decade, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is expected to announce that developing a nuclear-powered rocket is its top research priority.

The space agency is expected to request "significant resources and funding" to design a nuclear-powered propulsion system to triple the speed of current space travel, theoretically making it possible for humans to reach Mars in a two-month voyage.

The Bush administration has signed off on the ambitious nuclear-rocket propulsion project, dubbed Project Prometheus -- though not specifically for the Mars landing -- and the president may officially launch the initiative during his State of the Union address on Jan. 28, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said.

The initiative would greatly expand the nuclear propulsion plans that NASA quietly announced last year when the agency said it may spend $1 billion over the next five years to design a nuclear rocket.

NASA and the Bush administration are keeping the lid on the details, including how much more it expects to request from Congress, but O'Keefe said the funding increase will be "very significant."