Electricity on Moon: NASA Starts Accepting Proposals for Establishing Lunar Nuclear Power System by 2030 | The Weather Channel – Articles from The…

Artist's concept of new fission power system on the lunar surface.

Electricity has revolutionised the world like nothing ever has, and it's impossible for humanity to imagine a life on Earth without it. Now, what if we could generate electricity in space? Can it revolutionise space travel?

The US space agency NASA has now announced its decision to put a "durable, high-power, sun-independent" fission reactor onto the Moon, positively before 2030. So, by any chance, if you've been sketching blueprints for a portable nuclear fission power plant, this is your time to shine. The only condition is that NASA should be able to carry it to the Moon in a 12-foot-long by 18-foot-wide rocket!

NASA collaborates with the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to invest in this multibillion-dollar project. And even though humanity will visit the Moon after a nearly 50-year hiatus via the Artemis mission, one could say that this is still an incredibly bold statement to make, considering how the groups' plan to make this work remains a grey area.

On November 19, the INL released a statement saying they are "seeking industry partners to design nuclear power systems for lunar applications." The request for reactor designs on behalf of NASA and a contractor of the DOE is open until February 19, 2022.

The US hopes to have the first long-term presence on the Moon in the near future. To succeed, they will most likely need a power source. Wind or hydro-powered sources are impossible because of, well, the absence of both wind and water on the Moon. Fossil fuels are far-fetched, too, because of how expensive it would be to carry them off to the Moon.

In comparison, solar power is a lot more plausible, but again, it could probably only provide energy for the few hours when the panels are exposed to sunlight.

So, the only option that remains is nuclear power.

"Plentiful energy will be key to future space exploration. I expect fission surface power systems to greatly benefit our plans for power architectures for the Moon and Mars and even drive innovation for uses here on Earth," said Jim Reuter, an associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.

And NASA plans to employ specially constructed small modular reactors (SMRs) to supply consistent power in any environment, just like they do on the ground. However, the units will have to be designed to withstand the most adverse of environmental conditions.

According to the press release, the proposed reactor needs to be a uranium-powered fission reactor capable of splitting heavy atomic nuclei into lighter nuclei, releasing energy as a byproduct. The reactor must weigh no more than 6,000 kilograms and be small enough to fit into the rocket (12-foot-long by 18-foot-wide).

The reactor will be built on Earth and then launched to the Moon, where it will be required to generate 40 kilowatts of continuous electric power for ten years. The reactor must include temperature controls as well to keep the device cool. Lastly, it must have the structural integrity to hold out against its launch from Earth and landing on the Moon.

It would be reasonable to question NASA's decision to dive into this decade-long project, especially because the US will be spending several billion dollars on it.

According to reports, scientists at the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology were conducting rather peculiar experiments on moon rock samples. And the tests indicated that the super-power was probably trying to see if they could build a nuclear power plant on the Moon.

If this is true, it certainly explains why the US would want to get a headstart on such a lucrative expedition.

Anyhow, irrespective of the motive, if NASA pulled this off, it would be incredible and mean that we could take more such technologies to the Red Planet.

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Electricity on Moon: NASA Starts Accepting Proposals for Establishing Lunar Nuclear Power System by 2030 | The Weather Channel - Articles from The...