ASA grounds project at Knolls laboratory (NASA kills prometheus?)

Albany Times Union ^ | Saturday, September 10, 2005 | ERIC ANDERSON

[Arkie2]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has pulled the plug on a $65 million nuclear propulsion research program at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, leaving 150 employees in limbo.

"NASA and Naval Reactors have mutually agreed to terminate their partnership to work on Prometheus," as the program was called, a Knolls spokeswoman said Friday afternoon. "NASA has been changing its priorities. I don't have many details on this," she added.

Lockheed Martin Corp. operates Knolls under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy. Knolls employs 2,700 people, including 1,500 engineers, at its laboratory in Niskayuna and at another site in West Milton.

It operates with an annual budget of $450 million.

Knolls primarily develops nuclear propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy.

Knolls added 350 employees this year, 150 of them specifically for the space research program, and it planned to add more in 2006.

Calls to NASA on Friday weren't returned, and Knolls officials couldn't be reached for additional comment.

NASA had hoped to develop the nuclear propulsion system to carry spacecraft beyond the solar system, according to a June 19 story in the Times Union.

Employees were told of the decision to halt the program in a memo Thursday afternoon. Knolls told employees it didn't yet know how it would handle the staffing issues.

[Arkie2]

I wonder if this means NASA has abandoned nuclear propulsion as a primary source of power for future deep space exploration If they have I suspect it's because of the need to budget for manned programs and if that's true its a tragedy for space exploration.

[Arkie2]

ping

[Crazieman]

OH come on.

If we stay on earth any longer, the liberals will take over and enslave us to worldwide communism.

[mowowie]

Progress being held back decades yet again?

[burzum]

And so Prometheus goes the way of NERVA. Pity.

[mowowie]

I'm 39 and I truly believe that no matter what they say i'll never see a man on Mars...Maybe even another man on the Moon.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

As an engineer who gets to fix many of NASA's screw-ups I can say that NASA has definitely gone over the edge away from engineering towards a politically correct jobs program where your minority status is the most important factor in promotions/hiring. It's sad...

[Arkie2]

I don't believe a man on Mars is in the cards in your lifetime but you may see a man on the moon----if Burt Rutan puts him there. I have lost all confidence in NASA.

[Crazieman]

NASA also thinks lawyers are more important than engineers for spaceflight.

[NY Attitude]

and the hiring of 8A contractors.

[mowowie]

Well i'm actually 38, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself..But I believe youre right.

[Mark was here]

NASA ... a politically correct jobs program...

I agree, and this problem affects more government projects than NASA.

[Nateman]

I bet eco-wheenies and peace-nicks put out the lights here. They went crazy over plutonium on Galileo imagine the hysteria over launching an actual reactor. I'd like to see a self sufficient moon colony some day that could take on such projects on their own : they could just ignore the watermelon bunch.

[free_at_jsl.com]

You'll likely see a man on the moon. Unfortunately he will be Chinese.

[Arkie2]

I doubt the enviro's had the hammer here. I'm guessing NASA has decided to forego prometheus in favor of using that funding for the manned program. It's strictly a political decision driven by the president's emphasis on manned exploration

We're trading our future in space for more feel good missions with men on board at the expense of real science and exploration. But, that's just my humble opinion.

[Major_Risktaker]

If we stay on earth any longer, the liberals will take over and enslave us to worldwide communism.

Ditto:
Although my reason was different.

[Ostlandr]

If NASA is really abandoning nuke propulsion, this is criminal.
Once we work out the drives (the part that converts power from the reactor into kinetic energy) a spaceship isn't really much different from a nuc sub. We can do this!

Besides, how else are we supposed to turn Mars into a penal colony for all the terrorists?

[clyde asbury]

Yep, at this rate, future historians will wonder why the USA all but abandoned space after 1970.

Other nations will go to the planets and beyond and NASA will still be conducting science experiments in LEO (not the constellation).

[KevinDavis]

Well I ratherhave us fund human missions..

[Arkie2]

Guess I knew that would be your answer. Better to orbit the earth forever rather than explore the solar system?