“Now there is the political certainty we didn’t have before,” he adds. “Last but not least, the private sector is not only interested in using spatial nuclear energy, but are even interested in providing spatial nuclear energy.” Both startup And affirmed aerospace companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin are looking for the use of nuclear energy in space. “There are many pieces of puzzles who have joined positively, where we can actually move.”
The Artemis della NASA program should lay the foundations for a permanent base at the Lunar South Polo and Pioneer technologies to move on to Mars His future is uncertain. Regardless of this, the energy needs of any mission in crew in exotic environments such as the Moon, where the nights last two weeks and the temperatures float wildly, require constant and abundant power.
“Lunar gravity and thermal oscillations are brutal,” says Lal. “The daytime temperatures are about 100 degrees Celsius. The night is close to absolute zero. All the electronics must be hardened by radiation. Although, I will be honest, the greatest risks are not technical. The greatest risk is to maintain this momentum and the goal of the mission.”
Enter China, which is also planning a Moon base at the South Pole. This region is full of resources and water ice, which makes it an attractive site for exploration and a potential permanent presence, and China is in negotiations with Russia to collaborate on the construction of a reactor there by 2035. These developments have galvanized NASA officials, the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to enter the race.
“It could be done, because we do very well here in the United States when we have a strong opponent and we have not been one for 40 years,” says Mohamed El-Gen, professor of nuclear engineering and founding director of the Institute for Space and Nuclear Energy Studies at the University of New Mexico. “But many things must be elaborated so that this happens.”
How would everything work?
Duffy’s directive included some details on the design or on the scale of the planned reactor, and is guessing anyone who could emerge concepts in the coming months.
“To further advance the competition of the United States and the leadership of lunar surface in the context of the Artemis campaign, NASA is moving rapidly to advance the development of the power surface power,” said Bethany Stevens, a press secretary at the NASA headquarters, in an E -mail A Wired. “This critical technology will support lunar exploration, will provide a generation of high -power energy on Mars and strengthen our national security in space. Among the efforts to make development, NASA will indicate a new program manager to manage this work, as well as emit a request for an industry proposal within 60 days. NASA will release further details on this proposal in the future.”
The directive echoes the results of a recent report On spatial nuclear energy, co -author from the engineer lal and aerospace Roger Myers, which included an “Go Big or Home” option to build a 100 kW reactor on the moon by 2030.
This 100 kW design would be “roughly equivalent to sending a pair of adult African elephants on the moon with a folding umbrella of the size of a basketball court, except for elephants they produce heat and what an umbrella is not for the shade, it is to download the heat in space,” said Lel in an e-mail of follow-up to wired.