I was also wondering about this. How exactly are they powering it with a nuclear source? Nuclear power comes in two forms, (as far as I know). A) Steam B) Peltier Seebeck effect (often used in space probes). Neither of which is useful here. Though I did hear of theoretical spacecraft that used timed mini nuclear explosions behind the ship to propel it forward, but by mini, it was still on a much larger scale than an average missile.

It's pretty amazing. Sony doing something non-proprietary. What are they going to do next, use SD cards?!

"for no return other than glory and prestige." I wouldn't say that's entirely true: http://science.howstuffworks.com/ten-nasa-inventions1.htm http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/spinoffs2.shtml Some of these I would say were driven by NASA, but not necessarily invented.

I think it's important to note that this is a step towards developing a team that will replace NASA for commercial space travel. NASA was created as an organization to explore the furthest reaches of space. To orbit when we were on the ground, to reach the moon, when we were orbiting. In the past there was no one to fill in the gaps where they had already tread so they stayed there. Often at a loss. But now that's what SpaceX is doing. Its a Commercial Agency running space missions rather than a government agency like ESA or the Russian Space Agency or whatever it's called. It's all about transferring the ability to the private sector to allow the government to extend further outward. And it's not reinventing the wheel, the Soyuz family of design is based on something that over 30 years old with some updates. Sometimes that works (like how NASA is going back to Apollo-like modules http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(spacecraft)#Design ), but sometimes a complete overhaul leads to some great innovations.