A Notice of Intent (NOI) for NASA’s Prometheus Nuclear Systems and Technology program was released March 30 for public comment that ends May 31, 2005. A press briefing will be held at 10 a.m. EDT on April 19 at the NASA-KSC News Center to acquaint the media with the Prometheus program.

NASA, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), intends to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) regarding research and development activities associated with space nuclear reactors for electric power production on a robotic spacecraft for potential future civilian NASA missions. The PEIS will be developed in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and will discuss the purpose and need for space nuclear reactors to produce on-board power for instrument and propulsion needs to support the Vision for Space Exploration. The PEIS also will evaluate known and reasonably foreseeable power technologies to determine whether or not they are practical alternatives for producing sufficient spacecraft power for future exploration missions.

At 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on April 19, NASA will host public meetings at the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa, where the general public can comment on the PEIS and learn more about the Prometheus program. Since the public meetings are focused on interactions with the public, we ask the media to defer interviews with NASA and DOE officials until after each public meeting.

Participating in the media briefing will be:

  • James Garvin, Ph.D., NASA Chief Scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington

  • Ray Taylor, Prometheus Nuclear Systems and Technology Program Director, NASA Headquarters, Washington

  • James Mosquera, Deputy Program Manager for Space Reactors, Department of Energy – Naval Reactors, Washington

The Notice of Intent is available on the Web at:

http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/prometheus/peis/peis_noi.html

Unbadged news media needing accreditation for the press briefing should go to:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov/

For further information, contact the NASA-KSC News Center at 321-867-2468.