Posted: Sat, Jan 25, 2003, 12:20 PM ET (1720 GMT)
NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe told employees on Friday that agency does plan to accelerate development of space nuclear power and propulsion, but that there are no immediate plans to mount a human mission to Mars using it. In an address at the Marshall Space Flight Center, carried on NASA TV, O'Keefe said they agency planned to increase work on "Project Prometheus", efforts to develop nuclear power systems for use in space. The effort will include the development of a nuclear reactor for use in space as well as propulsion systems based on that reactor. Project Prometheus was first reported over a week ago in the Los Angeles Times, and that as well as later reports linked it to a possible initiative to send a human mission to Mars, perhaps within a decade. O'Keefe only said that space nuclear power would increase "the kind of space science experimentation we can pursue."

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  Huntsville Times article