The Center for Space Nuclear Research (CSNR) is located in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and operated by USRA and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). CSNR creates opportunities for university researchers to collaborate with their counterparts at NASA, INL, and other Department of Energy labs, in projects and initiatives to advance nuclear technologies for space exploration and other space applications.

CSNR research focuses on investigation and development of advanced space reactor and radioisotope power systems at the INL and in linking INL to relevant research being performed by USRA's members and other universities. In addition to INL, USRA's partners in creating the CSNR are the University of New Mexico and its Institute for Space Nuclear Power Studies, and the General Atomics Company.

Dr. Steven D. Howe

Dr. Steven D. Howe was appointed the first Director of the CSNR in 2005. He was previously part of the Thermonuclear Applications group of the Applied Physics Division at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Howe's research interests include antiproton physics and applications, nuclear rocket propulsion, hyper-velocity aerodynamics and thermodynamics, and non-equilibrium X-ray emission. Dr. Howe is also a fiction writer, having published the novella Wrench and Claw in Analog Magazine and the novel Honor Bound Honor Born, which detailed the possible development of the first commercial base on the Moon. Dr. Howe has appeared in numerous television programs about space and rocketry. He holds five patents involving the storage and application of antiprotons, and he is the co-founder of Hbar Technologies. Dr. Howe has served on a number of national committees.

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