CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASAis offering people a chance to comment tonight and Wednesday on a plannedmission to Pluto that will carry nuclear fuel.
The New Horizons mission will use a plutonium-powered radioisotopethermoelectric generator for power in deep space, where sunlight isn't intenseenough to run the spacecraft. It's like the generators that flew in the Cassini probe now at Saturn. In fact, it'sCassini's spare.
"RTGs have a proven track record and safety record,"Kurt Lindstrom, NASA's executive for the mission, said in a press conferencetoday at Kennedy Space Center.
"We will not launch this mission unless it is safe to fly," Lindstrom said.
Security problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory halted production ofplutonium, threatening the mission. But project scientist Hal Weaver, at JohnsHopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory, said the mission will get enough fuel toreach at least one Kuiper Belt object, even if itlaunches in a 2007 backup window.
Meeting the schedule has been challenging, said Orlando Figueroa, a deputyassociate administrator in NASA's science directorate, but Lindstrom said theyhad a good chance of making the first window.
There's a 93.8 percent chance of a successful launch, the statement says; a 5.8percent chance of an accident with no release of radiological material; and 0.4percent chance of a mishap with a radiological release.
Weaver said he's not a risk expert, but he's familiar with the study.
"I personally feel very comfortable that I'm going to be safe," he said. "I'mgoing to be there with my family at the launch site to watch New Horizons gooff. And we live in a world of risks. I'm more concerned about teaching my16-year-old how to drive and being in the car with him, a lot more concernedabout that than the risks associated with the New Horizons launch."
