2005 Project Prometheus Final Report

This report is NASA 982-R120461 issued on October 1, 2005.

Project Prometheus was to be a space ship with fusion nuclear-powered propulsion. This was part of the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) program. NR was assigned lead for the propulsion plant design based on NR's unique ability to design difficult efforts and the fact that a space ship is a ship after all so subjectively falls under NR cognizance as follows

On January 14, 2004, President Bush announced the Nation’s Vision for Space Exploration,

including the development of power generation and propulsion capabilities for exploration. In

February 2004, Mr. O’Keefe established the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate

(ESMD), led by Adm. Craig Steidle, and transferred JIMO (now known as Prometheus) into

ESMD. The following month, the Secretary of Energy assigned the lead for development and

delivery of civilian Space Nuclear Power Systems to DOE’s Office of Naval Reactors.