Your editorial about NASA's budget (AW&ST Aug. 19, p. 66) failed to note that there are other and better options for exploring Pluto and the far reaches of the solar system than funding a conventional fly-by reconnaissance mission that would yield at best only a few hours of close-in scientific data.

NASA is working on a better option, through our initiative to develop nuclear propulsion technologies for deep space exploration. This initiative, which is proposed in the President's budget for Fiscal 2003, promises to help significantly decrease the time it takes for spacecraft to travel to the outer planets and to enhance dramatically the kinds of science robot emissaries can conduct once they reach, orbit and/or land at their destinations. Further, by using advanced propulsion technologies, we can for the first time orbit a spacecraft around a planet and send it elsewhere should an interesting target, such as a newly discovered comet, fly by.

This initiative is one element of NASA's bold vision to improve life here, extend life to there and find life beyond. We're also advancing bold research to improve aviation safety and security, better understand the dynamics of the Earth's climate, create useful products and processes in zero-gravity and probe more into mysteries of the universe. In future editorials, I hope you will acknowledge that NASA has "objectives that expand horizons" and achieved results "that inspire awe."