[ad_1]
BOISE, Idaho — If anyone has a good idea of how to put the nuclear fission plant on the moon, the US government would like to hear it.
NASA and on Friday the nation’s top federal nuclear research laboratory submitted a request for proposals for a fission surface power system.
NASA cooperates with US Department of Energy‘NS Idaho National Laboratory to install a solar-independent power source for missions to the moon by the end of the decade.
“Ensuring a reliable, high-power system on the Moon is a vital next step in human space exploration, and it’s up to us to achieve it,” Sebastian Corbisiero, leader of the Fission Surface Power Project at the lab, said in a statement.
If successful in supporting a permanent human presence on the Moon, the next target will be Mars. NASA No matter what the environmental conditions on the Moon or Mars, fission surface power can provide sustained, abundant power, he says.
“I expect fission surface power systems to greatly benefit our plans for power architectures for the Moon and Mars, and even spur innovation for uses here on Earth,” said co-director Jim Reuter. NASA‘ Space Technology Mission Directorate, in a statement.
The reactor will be built on Earth and then sent to the moon.
Plans submitted for a fission surface power system should include a uranium-fueled reactor core, a system to convert nuclear power into usable energy, a thermal management system to keep the reactor cool, and a distribution system that provides at least 40 kilowatts of continuous energy. Electric power for 10 years in the lunar environment.
Some other requirements include being able to open and close by itself without human assistance, operate from the deck of a lunar lander, and be able to be removed from the lander and operated and transported on a mobile system. to a different month site for the operation.
Additionally, when launched from Earth to the moon, it must fit inside a 12-foot (4-meter) diameter cylinder that is 18 feet (6 meters) long. It must not weigh more than 13,200 pounds (6,000 kilograms).
Requests for proposals are for initial system design and must be submitted by February 19.
NS Idaho National Laboratory worked with NASA In various projects in the past. Recently, the laboratory has helped power NASAMars rover Perseverance with a radioisotope power system that converts heat generated by the natural decay of plutonium-238 into electrical energy.
The car-sized rover landed on Mars in February and remained active on the red planet.
The Department of Energy is also working to team up with private businesses on a variety of nuclear power schemes, particularly in the next generation of smaller power plants ranging from small modular reactors to small mobile reactors that can be quickly set up on site and then removed. when not needed.
[ad_2]
Source link