The head of NASA's nuclear push says a scientific mission to the inner solar system--perhaps to the moon, Mars or an asteroid--will be used to demonstrate a new propulsion system in place of a mission to Jupiter's icy moons. But the Jupiter trip is only delayed, not canceled, Ray Taylor said. It could fly in 2017, a few years later than the demonstration mission.
In the meantime, "we have a range of options being looked at in the analysis," he said. "They're all in the inner solar system . . . and they're all shorter mission duration."
Nuclear power has been deemed important for the exploration vision that would send astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars, though Taylor said it wasn't clear yet whether nuclear propulsion would be used for a human Mars mission. Analyses within the agency are ongoing, he said.
Meetings in Cocoa last week, featuring Taylor and other officials, will allow the public to comment on the nuclear initiative, space.com reported.
A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (formerly the General Accounting Office) suggested NASA was smart to put off the complex Jupiter mission.
It also said the agency might have trouble defining the project's technical requirements and cost estimates by this summer. That's when a review determines which mission will demonstrate the nuclear propulsion system developed by NASA's Project Prometheus.
Taylor said the agency was looking at alternatives to the Jupiter mission in October, before a draft of the GAO report was handed to NASA. After NASA got the report, the agency's 2006 budget request deferred the Jupiter mission, citing "concerns over costs and technical complexity."
Even if it's not clear how future human missions will be powered, nuclear propulsion could be invaluable for scientific missions such as the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter.
Though deep-space missions have flown by bodies in the outer planets, they have not been able to orbit a moon that distant because of a lack of power. That far from the sun, solar power doesn't help much.
JIMO is supposed to study one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, which has an icy crust thought to conceal oceans potentially hospitable to life.
"Now the scientists know that Europa is extremely high priority, extremely important from a science standpoint," Taylor said. ". . . They need to have much more up-close operation. In other words, they need to be in orbit."
Nuclear power would lend instruments more juice, too, potentially giving a spacecraft better radar and other capabilities.
NASA is looking at a range of technologies for a nuclear-powered drive, Taylor said. Electric thrusters would be larger versions of some that have flown already. A reactor system would be new.
It's challenging to test such a system on Earth, especially for a trip as ambitious as the Europa mission, said former Project Prometheus director and consultant Alan Newhouse, who left NASA in December.
A mission to the outer planets might have to run a decade or more, Newhouse said. "How do you prove you can make it run 10 years when you haven't even built it?" he said.
That challenge is one reason NASA decided to choose a different mission.
Taylor said the agency agreed with the GAO's recommendations.
"The good thing is that we have a very disciplined technical and business analysis process," he said.

Serious shortages of primary energy sources like oil and coal have prompted the mainaland Chinese government to promulgate a law on the development of renewable energy sources. Solar energy could be the first choice as an alternative to fossil fuels.
China's western areas, especially the Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, have rich solar energy resources. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has a total radiation volume of 6,000-8,000 trillion joules per square metre annually, averaging 7 kwh per square metre, and the hours of sunshine total 3,400 per year. The radiation volume in Tibet ranks second in the world, just after the Sahara Desert. Accordingly, the western areas have boosted the development of solar energy resources in recent years, atimes.com reported.
The Tibet Autonomous Region has put up more than 300 photovoltaic power stations ranging in size from 3-5kw. Seven counties in the region have built 10-100kw solar energy photovoltaic power plants, spread the use of independent photovoltaic power generating systems totaling 5,400kw, and installed 110,000 solar cook stoves.
The total power capacity of solar energy photovoltaic facilities in China exceeds 2.3 trillion watts. China started to set up solar energy photovoltaic labs in 1981, which began to develop rapidly ten years ago. The total power generated by solar cells and components grew greatly in 2003 to 12 trillion watts, 2.2% of the world's total, and 35 trillion watts in 2004, 3% of the global total.
However, statistics showed that 85% of these products were exported. Experts attributed the smaller domestic use of solar components to high costs. Photo-voltaic power plants produce electricity at about 3.4 yuan per kwh, which cannot compete with energy generated by wind power and thermal power.
Experts have advised that renewable energy be developed in four stages. The first stage, from the present up to 2010, is to realize the commercialization of parts of renewable energy technology that already exist, such as mini-hydropower stations, wind power fields, solar heating, and biogas/geothermal heating, by expanding demonstration projects. The second stage will cover the period from 2010 to 2020, in which a large amount of renewable energy technology would be commercialized in order to raise the proportion of renewable energy sources in total primary energy production to 18%, and increase total installed capacity to 90-100 million kilowatts.
The third stage will cover the 2020-2050 period, in which it is hoped that renewable energy sources will replace a considerable fraction of fossil fuel energy to raise the proportion of renewable energy in total primary energy production to more than 30%.
The fourth stage will cover the 2050-2100 period, in which the proportion of renewable energy in the total energy consumption will be raised to more than 50%, thus realizing a fundamental change in the energy consumption structure. According to experts, the development of photovoltaic power will exert a far-reaching impact on the restoration of fragile ecosystems in the western part of the country.

Zhiyu Hu believes it is possible to match nature’s highly efficient method to convert chemicals into thermal energy at room temperature, and he has data and a published paper to support his theory.
In a paper scheduled to appear in the May 18 print issue of the American Chemical Society’s Energy & Fuels, Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Hu describes a novel method to achieve spontaneous ignition and sustained combustion at room temperature.
He achieves this “nano-catalytic reaction” with nothing but nanometre-sized particles of platinum stuck to fibres of glass wool in a small jar with methanol and air--with no source of external ignition.
Although this began as little more than a curiosity, Hu quickly realized that the implications could be significant because of the potential gains in energy conversion and utilization. Hu now cites possibilities in the area of distributed power generation and perhaps military and homeland defense.
While additional research needs to be performed to understand the phenomena, Hu notes that natural organisms such as microbes, plants and animals obtain energy from oxidation of the same organic chemicals at their physiological, or body, temperatures, e4engineering.com reported.
Many of these biological reactions also use metals as part of their enzyme catalysts.
“Since the caveman days, we have burned things to utilise their energy, and the high temperatures and the entire process have created a lot of problems that we’re then forced to deal with,” said Hu, a physicist in the Life Sciences Division of the Department of Energy’s ORNL.
According to Hu, the best way to solve the energy crisis is to replace our existing fuel consuming method with one that has much higher efficiency and less environmental impact.
Indeed, there is room for efficiency improvement, Hu said, noting that an internal combustion engine is only about 21 percent efficient. The process also creates environmental concerns because of nitrogen oxide emissions that form because of the high combustion temperatures. Even an advanced fuel cell is only about 50 percent efficient, and it must be operated at a temperature that is much higher than our body or room temperature, which requires costly components able to withstand harsh conditions.
“What we have is the possibility of retrieving energy at a lower temperature with greater efficiency and lower environmental effects,” Hu said.
The method outlined in the paper “Nano-catalytic spontaneous ignition and self-supporting room-temperature combustion,” co-written by ORNL’s Vassil Boiadjiev and Thomas Thundat, was discovered unintentionally. Hu was conducting another experiment with platinum particles, methanol and cotton swabs when he noticed the mixture produced smoke. He consulted with Thundat and others who encouraged him to ascertain what was happening.
“This wasn’t research that was funded, so I worked evenings and weekends to try to understand why and how this happened,” Hu said. He replicated the discovery numerous times under different conditions and noticed that the reactions can reach high temperatures of greater than 600 degrees Celsius and low temperatures of just a few tenths of a degree above room temperature.
Hu also learned that he can control the reaction by varying the fuel-air mixture, and he discovered that the process can be dramatically changed by reducing the particle size and changing the particle’s morphology, or shape.

High-volume production and global trade in LNG constitute an emerging energy resource for the United States and the world in a time of rising demand.

America’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) jumped by 29 percent last year and added three percent to the USA's supply of a critical energy. Natural gas consumers benefited as this additional supply helped to keep prices stable for home heating and other uses, according to the US Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy.
As shown in Fossil Energy’s recently released Natural Gas Imports and Exports Fourth Quarter Report 2004, the increase to 652 billion cubic feet (Bcf), from 507 Bcf in the previous year, caps a rise of 300 percent in LNG imports since 1999. LNG imports are projected to account for 20 percent of supply by 2020. Seventy percent of US LNG imports currently come from Trinidad and Tobago.
In 2002, LNG imports to the United States totalled 229 Bcf, or six percent of imported gas. In 2003, imports totalled 506 Bcf, or 13 percent of all imported gas, more than doubling 2002’s total. Data for 2004 shows that LNG accounted for 15 percent of total imports, nearly a tripling in volume in just two years. The LNG numbers will increase yet again in 2005, and in the years beyond, e4engineering.com said.
Natural gas serves most of the USA's households and many industries in which it is not easily replaced. Both have been hard-hit by higher prices since 2000. Natural gas is used in about 6 of every 10 US households--around 63 million--mostly for heat. It is an indispensable feedstock for fertiliser and chemical manufacturers. And, according to the report, it has been a growing source of fuel for electric-power generation. Using LNG imports to expand supply can moderate price and deliver relief to both household and industrial users.
EIA's Annual Energy Outlook 2005 foresees that the USA will need much more LNG over the next 20 years. This year's projections say it should account for almost 10 percent of supply by 2010, which means imports of 2.5 trillion cubic feet, and more than 20 percent of supply by 2025, imports of 6.4 trillion cubic feet. The imports will be necessary to satisfy increases in demand that cannot be accommodated by domestic or other North American production of gas. The import estimates are up strongly from those of the Annual Energy Outlook 2004.
High-volume production and global trade in LNG constitute an emerging energy resource for the United States and the world in a time of rising demand. Present use is limited by a lack of liquefaction capacity among producing nations and a lack of import terminals among consuming nations. Large expansions are underway in all areas. At least 40 proposed terminals have been announced for the United States in recent years, but not all will be built. A lesser number have actually applied for the necessary state and federal permits.

Spain is set to surpass the UK as the most attractive spot for renewable energy investment, the latest Ernst & Young Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index says Monday.
While the UK and Spain continue their reign as the two most attractive national environments for investing in green power, the UK could slide down the rankings if windfarm development continues to lag.
"The UK has recently been hit by increased costs under the government's revised business rates regime for renewables and increases in transmission use of system charges with the introduction of BETTA (British Electricity Trading and Transmission Arrangements)," said Jonathan Johns, Ernst & Young's (EYG.XX) head of global renewable energy, money.iwon.com reported.
But while development may be slowing up in the more mature renewable energy markets, there is plenty of investment potential elsewhere, according to Johns.
"It may not be long before the new markets steal the renewable energy industry limelight from the likes of the UK and Germany," he said. "The market should continue to watch this space where Canada, China and India are concerned."
China is rapidly moving towards becoming a major renewable energy market, according to the Ernst & Young report, as government support mechanisms slot into place and manufacturers set up local plants in anticipation of the county's huge market potential.
Meanwhile, Canada's policy environment is improving, the report says, and India has had a record development year and is now the world's fifth largest market in terms of installed wind capacity.
Investment in offshore wind projects has failed to take off on the scale that had been predicted, spelling bad news for the UK in particular.
But, Johns said, "The banks' appetite for offshore wind has grown over the last few years and the key question is no longer if they will lend to offshore wind, but how."
"Early finance will come at a premium but, on the up-side, we anticipate that liquidity for refinancing should be up in 3-4 years time, bringing finance costs down for developers and reducing the banks' long term risk," he added.
European emissions allocations are also seen as a driver of renewables investment. "As power sector players come to terms with the need to reduce emissions, renewable energy--wind in particular--has a firm seat at the energy table," he said.
Renewables projects, however, are under threat from nuclear power, which is coming back into play as a solution to climate change concerns. Pebble bed technologies from China and more conventional technologies from France and the US have helped to raise the profile on nuclear, the report said.