Rolls-Royce to build nuclear reactor for the Moon with UK funding

The Jerusalem Post ^ | March 20, 2023 | Staff

[Twotone]

The UK Space Agency is backing a plan by British car and engine manufacturing firm Rolls-Royce to build a nuclear reactor for the Moon.

The program will receive funds to the sum of £2.9 million from the UK Space Agency, a major increase from the £249,000 study funded by the agency in 2022.

It is hoped that Rolls-Royce will have the reactor ready to send to the Moon by 2029.

The idea to make a nuclear power source for the Moon is far from outlandish.

Nations all over the world, spearheaded by NASA's Artemis missions, seek to return humanity to the Moon for a more prolonged stay than the few brief visits during the Apollo missions in the late 1960s and 1970s.

The first steps for this have already been taken, with NASA's Artemis I Mission having successfully returned from a trip around the Moon and the Artemis III Mission set to put human boots on the lunar surface for the first time in decades.

This is only the start of what is hoped to be a more long-term human presence on the Moon, which would include humans living and working on the lunar surface. This has the potential to vastly transform human progress, with space having been referred to by some as the "ultimate laboratory."

[Wuli]

Solar lacks the power-load advantages that you get with either fossil fueled power or nuclear power. Solar requires a very large “footprint” to obtain a tiny fraction of the power load that either a fossil fueled power generator or a tiny nuclear power plant can produce.

Also, with no magnetosphere, as the earth has, and not atmosphere, as the earth has, solar arrays will be subject to degradation from all the charged particles that reach the moons surface. A problem with significantly smaller impact on an underground placed nuclear power plant.

The environment out in space also has several hazards that could cause damage to the solar panels. These include space debris and extreme solar radiation, which could degrade the solar panels up to 8 times faster than panels installed on Earth.

[gibsonguy]

Refer to the mess around and you’ll find out chart.

[Regulator]

It’s likely the old Allison Engine Division. Located in Indianapolis. Now known as RR North America.

Golbalism, yuh know?

[MichaelRDanger]

When the Spanish crown first sent out exploration ships, none of them went to the North Pole. There was nothing there of value. So any such expedition would be a waste of money.

I struggle to see how the Moon is any different.

Helium 2 (he2) is abundant on the Moon and would be the ideal fuel for fusion reactors. If Fusion Reactors are ever developed the ability to mine he2 would be worth trillions and trillions of dollars.

[Leaning Right]

Now that’s interesting. Thanks for the reply.

[skimbell]

Plus everybody could walk around talking like Alvin.

[Scrambler Bob]

They need solar and windmills.

[absalom01]

Why not a LFTR ?

[Scrambler Bob]

Strip Malls, huh?

We will have to send customers, some to shop and some to wander around and rob the paying customers.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Something based on Pu238 is the only thing that would work."

Not so. Highly enriched U-235 will also work nicely.

[existtoexcel]

INL ( Idaho National Laboratory) the nations nuclear energy research lab and home of the first breeder reactor , EBR1 (see Atomic City) and still operating, is working with private industry to develop manufacturing of new generation (Gen4) MMR's (Micro Modular Reactors).

There is a YouTube video out "The MARVEL Microreactor at INL".

Much of the advancement is related to the study of fuel pellet decay characteristics using the immersion (3D) program developed at INL called MOOSE, (which is also used to study fault line characteristics among other things).

Russia has several microreactors, including a new system that is barge-mounted and producing heat and electricity for an arctic community across the Bering Strait from Alaska.

[Wonder Warthog]

I think you mean He3...

[MichaelRDanger]

You are correct...

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

If you look at the inventory of active satellites, almost two-thirds (4868 out of 7572, 64.3%) are U.S. flagged, some are Russian, in fact most dead (inactive) satellites, like Cosmos 2251 which collided with U.S. owned Iridium 33, are Russian (5649 out of 8780). The next biggest countries are the UK and China, but the UK is a leader per capita, if you exclude dead Russian satellites. Number 3 in live payloads. Russia is just cluttering orbits with junk.

Country / On Orbit / Active / % Active

Russia (CIS) / 5868 / 219 / 3.7%

USA / 5151 / 4868 / 94.5%

China (PRC) / 4397 / 668 / 15.2%

UK / 652 / 613 / 94.0%

https://celestrak.org/satcat/boxscore.php

U.S. and Britain have 14.8 and 12.9 active satellites per million people, respectively. Very respectable.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

If there is anywhere solar ought to work, it is a body with no atmosphere. They could even place solar panels at points near the lunar north pole that receive sunlight 80-100% of the lunar year.

The rotational axis of the Moon precesses with the same rate as its orbital plane, but is 180° out of phase (see Cassini's Laws). Therefore, the angle between the ecliptic and the lunar equator is always 1.543°, even though the rotational axis of the Moon is not fixed with respect to the stars. Every 29.53 (earth days) at the lunar poles (pick one) the sun would move from 1.543 degrees above the horizon to the same amount below. The angular diameter of the sun is the same on average at the moon as on earth, about half a degree, so the poles are in utter darkness much of the time, and the solar panels would have to rotate to follow the sun around the horizon the rest of the time.