NASA is moving forward with plans to install a nuclear reactor on the Moon to support “eventual human colonization” and power a lunar base for its Artemis program.
The space agency is extending three $5 million contracts awarded in 2022 to develop a small electricity-generating nuclear fission reactor, officials said in a Jan. 31 press release.
NASA plans to obtain designs for the final reactor in 2025, which it hopes will be implemented for a one-year demonstration in the early 2030s, followed by nine years of operation when it can provide electricity for a “sustained human presence” on the Moon.
If that goes well, the reactor could be updated for potential use on Mars, where NASA hopes to send astronauts in the coming decades, scientists said.
This technology is necessary because of the limitations of solar energy on celestial bodies, which have a night equivalent to 14.5 days on Earth.
“Lunar nights are challenging from a technical perspective, so having a power source like this nuclear reactor, operating independently of the Sun, is an enabling option for long-term exploration and science efforts on the Moon,” said Trudy Kortes, director of the Technology Demonstration Mission program in the Mission Directorate. NASA Space Technology at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
NASA’s rendering of a potential lunar nuclear reactor, which will be tasked with supporting “eventual human colonization.” NASA
Under the first phase of the ongoing Fission Surface Power Project, Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and IX were tasked with creating an initial design that included the reactor, and power conversion, heat rejection and power management and distribution systems.
“A demonstration of a nuclear power source on the Moon is needed to show that it is a safe, clean, reliable option,” Kortes said.
The reactor would have to weigh under six metric tons and produce 40 kilowatts of power — enough to power about 30 households on Earth.
NASA is finishing the initial phase of its Fission Surface Power Project, which focuses on developing a conceptual design for the reactor. NASA
“We got a lot of information from the three partners,” said Lindsay Kaldon, manager of the Fission Surface Power project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
“We need to take some time to process everything and see what makes sense to enter Phase 2 and apply the best from Phase 1 to establish the need to design a low-risk system moving forward.”
NASA’s Artemis mission aims, within the next few years, to establish the first long-term human presence on the Moon to gather information that will be used to send humans to Mars.
Astronauts have not been on the Moon since 1972, three years after the historic first mission of Apollo 11.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
