spacetoday.net: Report: NASA budget includes nuclear propulsion funding

Posted: Sat, Jan 18, 2003, 10:16 AM ET (1516 GMT)
NASA's 2004 budget proposal will contain "significant money" for a nuclear propulsion system whose existence was first revealed on Friday, SPACE.com reported. SPACE.com first reported late Friday that a NASA spokesman was denying a report published in Friday's Los Angeles Times that NASA would receive funding for "Project Prometheus", a program to develop a nuclear propulsion system that would allow crews to travel from Earth to Mars in just two months. However, SPACE.com reported later Friday evening that a source familiar with President Bush's 2004 budget proposal — which will remain under wraps until early February — said that the budget contains "significant money... more than I expected to see" for the project as an extension of NASA's new nuclear systems initiative. The author of the Times article told SPACE.com that he was sticking by his original article, which was based on an exclusive interview with NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe. According to the original Times article President Bush may announce the project in his State of the Union address on January 28.