Quote:
"Russia laid out its ambition to gain an edge in the space race by building a nuclear-powered spaceship.
But the plan outlined to a government meeting Wednesday left key questions unanswered, U.S. engineers were skeptical, and a Russian Greenpeace
activist voiced concern.
Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov told the meeting that the preliminary design could be ready by 2012. He said it would then take nine years
and 17 billion rubles ($600 million) to build the ship."
www.msnbc.msn.com...
I always thought nuke power in space was banned but ...
"The U.N. outer space treaty, in force since 1967 and ratified by 105 countries including Russia and the U.S., was designed to keep outer space free
of nuclear weapons. It makes no mention of using nuclear energy for nonmilitary purposes."
So that's how they get round it.
Anyway it will be interesting to see how this develops given the current economic climate
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