Editing Project Prometheus (section)

==Motivations==
Due to their distance from the Sun, spacecraft exploring the [[outer planets]] are severely limited in that they cannot use [[solar power]] as a source of electrical energy for onboard instrumentation or for [[ion propulsion]] systems. Previous missions to the outer planets such as [[Voyager program|Voyager]] and [[Galileo probe]] have relied on [[radioisotope thermoelectric generator]]s (RTGs) as their primary power source. Unlike RTGs which rely on heat produced by the natural decay of radioactive isotopes, Project Prometheus called for the use of a small [[nuclear reactor]] as the primary power source.

The primary advantages of this would have been:
*Increased power generation compared to RTGs, allowing scientists and engineers more flexibility in both mission design and operations. 
*Increased spacecraft longevity.
*Increased range and propulsion power.
*Extra power for high speed data transmission.