Did the "nuclear systems initiative" really get full funding last year? I thought it got cut in Congress.

In any case, I am a big fun of nuclear systems for space, but I'm worried about whether the program will really pan out politically.

1. For those who want to cut Bush's program in general, it's an easy hit -- tied to far-future missions, and one of the biggest single pots of money in the near term. You can whack it and not hurt shuttle or ISS at all (you can argue that if you take away CEV money, we don't have ISS transport capability).

2. The depth of anti-nuclear sentiment should not be underestimated. There is going to be a LOT of opposition to launching something like JIMO. Hell, there were even a few voices complaining about the RHUs in the rovers (very very tiny passive plutonium heaters -- like a watt or less, nowhere near as big as an RTG).

3. Beyond actual fears about safety -- overblown as they are -- nuclear systems will suffer greatly from guilt by association. This administration is pushing for an expansion of commercial nuclear power, a resumption of nuclear testing, and a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons ("bunker busters"). What do those have to do with Prometheus technically? NOthing. Politically? Lots.

Plenty of Democrats and anti-nuclear/anti-war groups will be out to kill anything that inlcudes the words "Bush Administration" and "nuclear". And something tied to an already dubious "Man on Mars" program may well be an easier win than going after the defense-related items.

4. There are also people who think that Prometheus is actually just cover to develop space nuclear power systems for military satellites, particularly for missile defense applications. The fact that O'Keefe talks frequently about improving cooperation between NASA and the DoD including transferring NASA tech for defense applications certainly feeds those rumors.

Because of 3 and 4, addressing safety concerns isn't going to make the opposition to the program go away -- anything nuclear has a heavy symbolic value.

My main fear is that the Bush admin won't be willing to put out the political capital necessary to keep nuclear systems on the table, but that we'll be so committed to such systems that killing the nuclear systems means killing the missions altogether (which is yet another reason they will be a target for program opponents -- kill the nuclear part and kill the whole program, but without taking responsibility for doing so).