Plutonium to Pluto: Russian nuclear space travel breakthrough

[Elimentals]

Erm from what I can understand this is not really ground breaking at all.

They just using nuclear power to generate electricity for an ion propulsion system?

I think all NASA can say to this, is welcome to the 21st century.

Been there - http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/fs21grc.html
Done that - http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/ion_prop.asp
Now where did I put my NASA T shirt?

 

[zippy]

http://science.nasa.gov/planetary-science/missions/

I count approx 14 NASA inter-planetary missions currently in progress. How many do the Russians have ?

And by "in progress" I mean they are in space now.

Btw, click on the Dawn mission:

Enabled by an ion propulsion system, Dawn will be the first mission ever to orbit a main belt asteroid and the first ever to orbit two targets. It also will be the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet. The spacecraft is in interplanetary cruise and will fly by Mars in February 2009. Launched: September 27, 2007. Vesta orbit: 2011-2012. Ceres orbit: 2015.

 

[BeVonk!]

You guys obviously didn't watch the movie Apollo 18 to see that the Russians did land on the moon. Go see www.lunartruth.com.

LOL!

 

[BeVonk!]

Interestingly enough I am just now reading the book "Underground" by Dreyfuss and Assange where the W A N K worm attack on NASA is described after they in 1989 decided to use plutonium to provide power for the Galileo spacecraft.

 

[Nicodeamus]

do people still believe that moon landing conspiracy?

 

[sanimoyo]

Doesn't Nasa have something like that, have forgotten the name but last time I read on it was approaching the end of the solar system

 

[w1z4rd]

do people still believe that moon landing conspiracy?

Yes many.

 

[ponder]

Doesn't Nasa have something like that, have forgotten the name but last time I read on it was approaching the end of the solar system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster#Operational_missions