NASA seeks ideas on how to place a nuclear power reactor on the Moon. . . You have three months to present your opinion on a nuclear reactor that could work on the Moon. But since astronauts’ lives will depend on it, you’ll need to present your ideas along with serious design proposals.
“Providing a reliable, high-power system on the Moon is a vital next step in manned space exploration, and it’s up to us to make it happen,” says Sebastian Corbisiero of Idaho National Laboratory, who collaborated with NASA on the project.
With NASA’s Artemis mission, humans will return to the Moon in 2025. Future research bases on our satellite (and possibly Mars) will need a sustainable power source, and much of what we rely on from Earth isn’t viable there. There are no sources of wind or water to power the turbines. The greenhouse effect may not be an issue for the Moon, but there are no fossil fuels to burn, and we have other priorities for the oxygen needed to burn them. Even if everything was in order, it would also be absurdly expensive to transport all that stuff there.
In this case, there are two options left: solar energy and nuclear energy. But the fact that a lunar night lasts 14 Earth days causes us to eliminate the issue of the Sun.
NASA is under no illusions that fusion power will be available in time for the first Moon mission, so they state that they are looking for fission to work on the Moon’s surface. A fission reactor works by splitting atoms and releasing energy in the form of heat, which is converted into electricity. Instead of being dependent on a single reactor, four reactors are planned, each producing at least 10 kilowatts of power and capable of sustaining this for at least 10 years without interruption.
So what conditions must be met in order to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon? First of all, each reactor must fit inside a 6 meter long and 4 meter wide cylinder and weigh no more than 6,000 kilograms. In addition, the limits of exposure to radiation for anyone within a kilometer must be well measured.
Those who have ideas or want to learn all the details can take a look at the draft contract here. Bids must be submitted to NASA before February 19, 2022.
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