Posted on 01/21/2018 2:49:21 PM PST by ckilmer
NASA just tested the tiny nuclear reactor it could use for a Martian colony By Mark Austin — Posted on January 20, 2018 5:41 pm
NASA and the Department of Energy have just tested a small fission nuclear reactor named KRUSTY (Kilowatt Reactor Using Stirling Technology) in the Nevada desert — a possible power source for future space exploration or even a manned mission to Mars.
Reuters
reports that initial testing of the system components in a vacuum environment, part of NASA’s Kilopower project, have led to plans for a full-power test in March. “The Kilopower test program will give us confidence that this technology is ready for space flight development,” explained Lee Mason of NASA.
In the past, NASA has used thermoelectric generators that use heat from naturally decaying radioactive elements to power projects like the Cassini spacecraft and Curiosity rover. This recent test is different in that it uses an active fission reaction — literally “splitting atoms” — to drive pistons for a more efficient conversion.
NASA hasn’t tested an active fission reactor since the ‘60s, according to Space.com. The prototype uses a uranium-235 reactor core about the size of a paper towel roll.
The Kilopower output ranges from about 1 kilowatt (KW), about enough for a household appliance, to 10 KW. A Mars mission would require about 40 KW, so NASA would probably send four or five on such an expedition. “Kilopower’s compact size and robustness allows us to deliver multiple units on a single lander to the surface that provides tens of kilowatts of power,” said Steve Jurczyk of NASA‘s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
“Mars is a very difficult environment for power systems, with less sunlight than Earth or the moon, very cold nighttime temperatures, very interesting dust storms that can last weeks and months that engulf the entire planet,” Jurczyk added.
The reactor could last up to ten years and provide power for life-support systems in Martian habitats, charge up rovers and other equipment, and even convert ice into usable fuel. Without having to rely on solar power, Kilopower eliminates the worry of lengthy dust storms or rationing power during nighttime hours.
“This new technology could provide kilowatts and can eventually be evolved to provide hundreds of kilowatts, or even megawatts of power,” said Mason. “We call it the Kilopower project because it gives us a near-term option to provide kilowatts for missions that previously were constrained to use less. But first things first, and our test program is the way to get started.”
I’ll buy one.
Oh sure, now we are polluting a pristine planet with nuclear waste. s/
That'd get 'er movin'.
Call MR. Scott, Mr. Spock and CAPT Kirk.
And Doc Brown.
“Oh sure, now we are polluting a pristine planet with nuclear waste. s/”
Sounds like we have to start working on a lawsuit to stop this crap...in order to make us feel important.
They’ll have plenty of time to make a better reactor in the 60 or 70 years we have before we go to Mars. Anyone who thinks the current NASA is capable of doing it before then dosn’t know NASA.
Sixty years later, the world is ready for the Ford Nucleon.
Is this what happens when the mission becomes America first oriented instead of apologia Islam oriented?
Very neat. Plus, you could send along some cores designed to be united in case the worse case that we can’t send supplies to anyone on Mars. Probably could string out multiple generations so that they have a chance to figure out how to survive before power runs out.
One of the dreams of the nuclear industry is to invent a small reactor about the size of a washing machine or refrigerator that could supply power for an average house for years. I want one of those. As long as it was EMP shielded.
Carry one of those on a Tesla car, and you won't be waiting for a tow truck on a country road when your batteries die. You'll just wait hours for the Tesla to be recharged, then good to go again. Might set you back a couple million, though.
“One of the dreams of the nuclear industry is to invent a small reactor about the size of a washing machine or refrigerator that could supply power for an average house for years”
The Soviets built small reactors 40 years ago, for use in remote, isolated places like weather stations. They even built reactors to be used in space, called the Topaz Program, based on a Los Alamos program from the 50’s.
From Wiki:
The first TOPAZ reactor operated for 1,300 hours and then was shut down for detailed examination. It was capable of delivering 5 kW of power for 3–5 years from 12 kg (26 lb) of fuel. Reactor mass was ~ 320 kg (710 lb).
TOPAZ was first flown in 1987 on the experimental Plazma-A satellites Cosmos 1818 and Cosmos 1867, which were intended to test both the TOPAZ reactor and the Plasma-2 SPT electric engine. A follow-up Plasma-2 was to have been equipped with an improved reactor. One reactor operated for 6 months, the other for a year. The program was later abandoned on the instructions of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988.
Several people died of radiation exposure after the fall of the Soviet Union , illegally scrapping the reactors for precious metals at the abandoned weather stations.
You could buy plutonium on any street corner in 1985.
Never happen. Too much proliferation danger involved. The smaller the reactor, the more highly enriched in fissionable isotope the fuel has to be, and hence the more useful it would be if you want to make a bomb.
I wonder if that would apply to a Thorium vest pocket reactor?
There was a short period of time in the 1950s when “Atomic” this and “Nuclear” that was in everything. Even the automakers got in on it, by installing radioactive piston rings different motor oils could be compared and advertisements had clicking geiger counters and ad men touting how much less engine wear resulted using their motor oil.
Shoe stores, for a time, had X-Ray machines so customers could look at the bones in their feet. That went away. Oops!
On the energy front the claim was “electricity will be too cheap to meter.” That didn’t happen either.
While it is true hundreds of thousands of small fission reactors are probably a really bad idea, it should also be pointed out a whole lot of things become just about impossible than they would otherwise when significant portions of the populace are openly hostile, as is the case today; and unlike the 1950s if it was technically possible then, and maybe it was, it is not possible from a security standpoint today.
I remember the X-ray machines before ww2 that I could see the bones in my feet. This was in a Sears store in Chattanooga, Tn.
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