Posted on 06/01/2020 8:55:23 AM PDT by BenLurkin
With NASA planning its next human mission to the moon in 2024, researchers are looking for options to power settlements on the lunar surface. According to a new article in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, nuclear fission reactors have emerged as top candidates to generate electricity in space.
When it comes to powering an astronauts’ settlement, there are many factors to consider, writes correspondent Tien Nguyen in collaboration with ACS Central Science. The power source must be capable of being transported safely from Earth and of withstanding the harsh conditions of other worlds. Past space missions have used solar power as a scalable and renewable source of electricity, but the dark craters of the moon or the dusty surface of Mars may not offer enough light. The limited lifespans of battery and fuel cell technologies typically relegate them to backup options. Nuclear devices that run on decaying plutonium-238 have been used to power spacecraft since the 1960s, including Mars rovers and the space probes Voyager and Cassini, but they don’t provide enough energy for a settlement. In contrast, nuclear fission reactors that split uranium-235 atoms, which are used by power plants here on Earth, could provide a reliable power source for a small space settlement for several years, scientists estimate.
(Excerpt) Read more at scitechdaily.com ...
What does Kimberly Wells say about this ?
Lunar warming!
Nuclear winter!
Johnny Winter!
Edgar
Winter
Thats speeding ticket music
Well, the Rats are otherwise occupied at the time.
I knew a guy in the 1990’s, a serious leftist, who scaled one of NASA’s walls or something to protest a launch with a nuclear reactor, was really upset at his treatment by cops, their twistie-tie handcuffs were too tight, poor food in the jail, LOL.
Wow, that was 30 years ago.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12517060-100-protest-groups-move-to-halt-space-mission/
What about the “not in my backyard” crowd?
*ping*
Should look into Thorium based reactors.
Don’t forget about the Nazi base.
(Apollo 18 was it?)
What other choice would they have? There is no coal, water for dams, wind, and cant do solar since the moon has day/night cycles. Nuclear is their only option.
I don’t know much about nuclear power but I do know that every nuclear power plant is built next to a large body of water which is necessary to cool the reactors. Does nuclear power need oxygen?
A passive nuclear reactor sounds cool,
Though reviewing the story ( I know it violated FR norms)
Three government agencies work together to design and build a 10kw generator and after they spend untold monies it only produces 1/2 the intended power.
Perhaps I’m just being a cynic, but this sounds like typical government results.
Don't much care how they're powered, but this appears to be another ploy for continued involvement of our Russia enemy in our space program.
When you look at Space, Weight And Power (SWAP) tradeoffs, nothing comes close to nuclear in efficiency. For the smallest cubic space and weight, you get dramatically more power output.
Additionally, they can be ultra-reliable, which is a life or death issue in space.
You can have some solar panels, you can mine some fuel locally, but you need to have a (few) safely buried nuclear power source(s) to be sure of life support, and to get the heavy lifting done (figuratively speaking). Kilowatts from solar, megawatts from nuclear.
Good, we don’t want to see the damming of the moon’s rivers for generating hydroelectric power, it would affect the spawning of the lunar salmon.
But, but then we’ll get space warming.
Arggghhhhh, climate change in space!
And, of course, journalism majors will believe it.
How about we get back there first and then make decisions on powering a settlement?
I remember when the Cassini probe was launched, people were terribly concerned about the nuclear reactor suffering an accident near earth.
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