Once we get to the Moon with plans to stay a while, we’re going to need a way to power everything. That’s why NASA is planning on shipping up a nuclear reactor. If we’re going to get one installed anytime in the coming decade, the engineers need some help from the public sector.
Nuke the Moon
Humanity’s plans for leaving the nest and moving out of Mother Earth’s basement are embarrassingly far behind. We’ve had most of the technology to set up bases and way-stations from Low Earth Orbit to the satellites of Saturn since the 1960’s.
After a few days vacation playing golf on the Moon, and riding the quad all over the place in one-sixth gravity for fun, American astronauts filled their pockets with rocks and headed back home. Nobody has set foot on the lunar surface since December 14, 1972, nearly 50 years ago.
Finally, the powers that be are getting serious about space exploration again and they’re dusting off the moon colony project plans.
As part of the early stages, America’s Department of Energy is working with the Space Agency to build “a uranium-powered nuclear reactor and send it to the lunar surface.” They can’t do it without help, so they’re “asking for ideas.”
An official statement about the nuclear Moon power project was issued by the Idaho National Laboratory confirming the collaboration between the DOE and NASA to “establish a durable, high-power, sun-independent power source for NASA missions.”
It also notes the pair of agencies are “seeking proposals from nuclear and space industry leaders,” on “how the nuclear power system could be created and sent to space inside a 12 foot long, 18-foot wide rocket.” Hmm, that’s a tricky one.
Deadline February 19
If your organization would like to submit a proposal on how to ship a reactor to Luna City, the deadline is February 19, 2022. The goal is to “have the lunar nuclear power plant up and running by 2030.”
Accomplishing that one task “could make Moon missions a lot easier as it could provide power to a lunar base for astronauts.” Another thing it could do is power a nifty Maglev catapult.
The whole key to colonies is massive amounts of energy. Not only on our nearest neighbor, but on Mars, the asteroid belt, and attractive outer planet real estate like Titan. Jim Reuter, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate associate administrator explains, plentiful energy will be key to future space exploration.”
That’s why he expects “fission surface power systems to greatly benefit our plans for power architectures for the Moon and Mars.” Coming up with ways to make it work will also “drive innovation for uses here on Earth.”
While writing your proposals, bear in mind that NASA wants a reactor which “will weigh no more than 13,200 pounds.” The idea, the say, “is to put it together on Earth and then launch it to the Moon inside a rocket.”
Once in place, “it will need to provide 40 kilowatts of electric power continuously for at least ten years.” The biggest challenge seems to be a cooling system for the reactor. “This could be tricky as the Moon can get extremely hot during the lunar day.” Anywhere from -279.4°F to 260.6°F.