NASA appoints companies to build nuclear power plants on the moon. Fission systems may be ready to be sent to the moon in a few years.

NASA and the US Department of Energy (DOE) have now selected three companies to help NASA build small nuclear power plants on the moon.

The three companies Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and IX will receive around $ 5 million each to develop fission systems that could be used to generate energy on the moon. It will be a system that can generate 40 kilowatts and have a lifespan of at least ten years on the moon’s surface. NASA writes about the systems:

“Relatively small and lightweight compared to other power systems, fission systems are reliable and could enable continuous power regardless of location, available sunlight, and other natural environmental conditions. A demonstration of such systems on the Moon would pave the way for long-duration missions on the Moon and Mars. “

Sometime at the end of this decade, NASA hopes to have developed small nuclear power plants that can be sent to the moon during its lunar program Artemis. The illustration above shows a concept image of a fission system on the moon.

nasa.gov

Science, Space,

NASA, Nuclear Power Plant, Moon, Artemis, Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse, IX

The Kilopower nuclear reactor can be ready for space in 2022

So that we can charge the batteries on the moon and Mars

The day man settles on Mars, it will probably require large amounts of energy and some of this we will probably get via different types of nuclear power plants. NASA, together with the US Department of Energy (DOE), has developed the Kilopower reactor, a reactor designed to operate in space. The idea behind Kilopower is that the small nuclear power reactor should be able to supply outposts on the moon or Mars with energy to power the facilities there. The energy will then be used, among other things, for water treatment plants, oxygen production, heating and to charge the batteries on the vehicles used. In addition to that, it will probably require some electricity for lighting, cooking and other things in the homes of future astronauts. Kilpower must be able to generate at least 1 kilowatt of electricity (1 kWe), which must be able to scale up to 10 kWe. The service life of a Kilopower reactor is stated to be approximately 15 years. NASA and DOE conducted successful tests with Kilopower last year and Patrick McClure, who is leading the Kilopower project at DOE, believes that the small nuclear power plants could be ready to take off into space in about three years. Although Kilopower will be ready to go to the moon and / or Mars as early as 2022, there are currently no such missions planned.

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