Russia bold, while America wavers

A Russian nuclear-powered probe shown approaching Jupiter; could a nuclear-powered spacecraft take cosmonauts to Mars?

While the Augustine Commission and the U.S. government contemplate further curtailment of NASA’s manned space program, Russia is planning to boldly go where no man has gone before.

The Russian president has said he is committed to funding a Russian effort to send cosmonauts to Mars. And with a recent technological breakthrough, the Russians believe they could be ready to build a new Mars manned spacecraft as soon as 2012.

Money, in Russia is even tighter than in the U.S. But President Dmitry Medvedevhas come through and found funding for projects he supports in the past. He pledged to come up with the (surprisingly small) $600 million needed for the project.

Now for the controversial part: the Mars rocket would be nuclear powered. I don’t know how I feel about this. Of course, there are hazards to people on the ground. Some years ago, a Soviet satellite spread radiation upon re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. And the U.S. made people nervous when it launched the Cassini mission—which contained nuclear material.

But both the U.S. has worked on developing nuclear space rockets in the past, and had some success. (The projects were “Orion” and “Prometheus.”)

Is the doable? Can the Russians find the money? Should it be done…or is it too dangerous for people on the ground? I don’t know. But the Russian president says: “It’s a very serious project, and we need to find the money.”

And while the Russians are showing vision and nerve, the Americans appear to be giving up.