NASA and the Department of Energy (DOE) have awarded three companies $5 million each to make it possible to put nuclear power on the Moon by 2031 and potentially provide future Mars colonists with tons of reliable electricity.
The challenge: It’s been 50 years since NASA last sent astronauts to the moon as part of its Apollo missions, and none of those visits lasted more than 12 days.
The Moon-based reactor will have to provide 40 kilowatts of power for at least 10 years.
Through its Artemis missions, the agency plans to return humans to the Moon as soon as three years from now, in 2025. This time, it wants to establish a long-term presence there, so astronauts have plenty of time to explore the lunar surface and do research that could one day help us reach Mars.
Astronauts will need a reliable power source while on the Moon, and while solar panels can help meet that need, they won’t work during the long lunar nights or underground, and underground lava tubes are among the most scientifically interesting features of the Moon.
Nuclear option: More than a decade before NASA astronauts set foot on the moon, people here on Earth were building massive power plants that used nuclear fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy , to generate clean electricity independent of the climate.
However, nuclear reactors do not have to be massive. In November 2021, NASA and the DOE solicited proposals from US companies for “mini” reactor concepts theoretically capable of generating nuclear power on the Moon.
The reactors would need to be lightweight and capable of continuously providing astronauts with 40 kilowatts of power, enough to power 30 homes here on Earth, for 10 years. They should also be ready for a real demonstration on the Moon in 2031.
An illustration of a Martian nuclear reactor. Credit: NASA
On July 21, NASA and the DOE announced that they were giving three companies—IX, Westinghouse, and Lockheed Martin—each about $5 million to further develop the design concepts presented over the next 12 months.
“The Fission Surface Power project is a very achievable first step for the United States to establish nuclear power on the Moon,” said John Wagner, director of DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory. “I can’t wait to see what each of these teams will accomplish.”
The Big Picture: Like many of NASA’s endeavors, there is no set plan to generate nuclear power on the Moon — the agency and its partners will have to learn as they go, and the project could fail at any stage of development
However, if successful, a fission reactor based on the Moon could not only offer astronauts a way to power their technology on the lunar surface, but could also lay the groundwork for generating electricity on Mars and beyond. helping to make humanity a multiworld species. .
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