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In Nuclear Hammers and Nuclear Hamstrings, SpaceDaily’s Ralph L. McNutt Jr. administers a reality check on the subject of space nuclear power (SNP).

While SNP would not work out for the near-term Pluto-Kuiper missions under consideration, he says, it is vital for the exploration of Mars and the outer solar system:

In high priority Mars surface missions using rovers, as well as in the outer solar system, light levels are simply too low to provide enough electrical power to do all that the science requires.

Better solar cells will not fix the problem, as the technology is pushing close to the power-generation limits imposed by physics, and nuclear power sources are required for long range rovers on Mars and most missions beyond the main asteroid belt, where radioisotope thermoelectric generators have been the workhorse of all outer planet missions for decades.

While resumed/upgraded production of RTGs will support current mission plans and even allow us to gain experience with electric propulsion, he sees them as a stopgap while much more powerful miniaturized fission power systems are developed.

He’s right, of course — its green glamour aside, solar power just won’t be enough — but the space advocacy community needs to do more to persuade the public of this. And beyond just convincing the public that it is required, we need to present both the risks and the benefits an accurate, understandable, and credible manner, in order to counter the inevitable kneejerk anti-nuclear hysteria that will greet flights of new SNP systems.

This is something we should begin now. We can’t afford to wait until, like Cassini, the payload is stacked for launch.