The CSNR will be supporting the Idaho National Laboratory over the next few months on a NASA sponsored contract. The contract requests that INL provide assessments and evaluations in the following four areas of technology for the nuclear thermal rocket (NTR): 1) fuels development- develop a program plan to validate NTR fuels, either graphite based or tungsten based; 2) reactor design trade studies; 3) assessment of facilities at both INL and the Nevada Test Site for testing a NTR at full power; and 4) overall program development plan. Dr. Steven Howe of the CSNR will support the INL study for task 3.

The September 5, 2007 edition of the Idaho State Journal carried a story about the CSNR Summer Fellowship Program. The article was also reproduced in the News Clips of the Department of Energy. Link to Idaho State Journal.

On Sept. 18-20, Dr. Howe attended the Space 2006 conference in San Jose, CA. The conference is sponsored by the AIAA. This year featured a number of talks by Dr. S. “Pete” Worden the new director of the NASA Ames Research Center along with presentations by several new launch companies.

On Sept. 21-23, Ms. Delisa Rogers and Ms. Kristi Bailey of the CSNR participated in the INL Science and Technology Expo 2006 in Idaho Falls, ID. The CSNR booth demonstrated constraints of space travel, considering distance, power needs, and basic physics principles.Over 2000 students from the surrounding area visited the CSNR booth.

5) Dr. Steven Howe will be the Technical Co-chair of the embedded Space Nuclear Conference 2007 at the annual conference of the American Nuclear Society, June 24, 2007 in Boston, MA. Dr. Howe’s co-chair is Dr. Shannon Bragg-Sitton of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Over 20 sessions have been identified and a call for papers has been released at http://www.ans.org/snc07. Dr. Howe will also co-chair the session on “Application of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion to Vision for Space Exploration Missions”.