NASA has plans to put a nuclear power plant on the Moon within this decade but it’s publicly asking for help to make it happen.
The space agency and the US Department of Energy are asking for ideas on how to build a uranium-powered nuclear reactor and send it to the lunar surface.
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A statement from the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory confirmed it was teaming up with Nasa for the project.
It said the duo were hoping to “establish a durable, high-power, sun-independent power source for NASA missions.”
The US space agency is “seeking proposals from nuclear and space industry leaders” on how the nuclear power system could be created and sent to space inside a 12 foot long, 18-foot wide rocket.
The deadline for proposals is February 19 next year and the aim is to have the lunar nuclear power plant up and running by 2030.
If successful, the reactor could make Moon missions a lot easier as it could provide power to a lunar base for astronauts.
Jim Reuter, the associate administrator for Nasa’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C., explained: “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.”
The reactor Nasa has in mind will weigh no more than 13,200 pounds.
The plan is to put it together on Earth and then launch it to the Moon inside a rocket.
Once there, it will need to provide 40 kilowatts of electric power continuously for at least ten years.
Engineers will also need to think of a way to keep the nuclear reactor cool so it doesn’t go into meltdown.
This could be tricky as the Moon can get extremely hot during the lunar day.
According to the British Natural History Museum, temperatures on the Moon can range from anywhere -173°C to 127°C (-279.4°F to 260.6°F).
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