The most significant impediment to the initiation of new space nuclear systems programs is that space policy and missions are in the process of taking new directions that have not yet been defined. For instance, the DoD is evaluating such issues as the relative merits of launch on schedule versus launch on demand and of the amount of repositioning needed for satellites. Budgets are decreasing and new approaches are needed to keep development costs down. The budget cycle is such that requiring substantial funding for new programs takes on the order of three years. Finally, the definite bias against nuclear systems makes it much more difficult to obtain the necessary long term commitments. Approaches to resolving these issues are addressed. They include (1) identifying missions that are enable in the current environment and (2) ways to develop and test future space nuclear systems more efficiently. © 1995American Institute of Physics