The Transient Reactor Test Facility at Idaho National Laboratory is 50 miles west of Idaho Falls. NASA and the nation's top federal nuclear research lab put out a request for proposals for a surface power system. NASA and the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory are working to establish a sun-independent power source for moon missions by the end of the decade. The file is a photo of AP Photo.
If anyone has a good idea on how to put a nuclear power plant on the moon, the U.S. government wants to hear about it.
NASA and the nation's top federal nuclear research lab put out a request for proposals for a surface power system.
NASA and the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory are working to establish a sun-independent power source for moon missions by the end of the decade.
The lead of the Fission Surface Power Project said in a statement that it is within our grasp to provide a reliable, high-power system on the moon.
The next objective is Mars if a sustained human presence on the moon is successful. No matter the environment on the moon or Mars, NASA says the surface power could provide abundant power.
Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said in a statement that he expects the use of fission surface power systems to benefit the plans for power architectures for the moon and Mars.
The reactor would be sent to the moon.
A partial lunar eclipse will take place in Kansas City, Mo. NASA and the nation's top federal nuclear research lab put out a request for proposals for a surface power system. NASA and the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory are working to establish a sun-independent power source for moon missions by the end of the decade. Credit: AP
Plans for the fission surface power system should include a reactor core made of U.S. plutonium, a system to convert the nuclear power into usable energy, a thermal management system to keep the reactor cool, and a distribution system that can provide 40 kilowatts of continuous electric power for 10 years
It needs to be able to operate from the deck of a lunar lander and be able to be removed from the lander and transported to a different lunar site for operation, as well as being capable of turning itself off and on without human help.
It should fit inside a cylinder that's 18 feet (6 meters) long when it's launched from Earth to the moon. It should not weigh more than 13,200 pounds.
The initial system design proposal requests must be submitted by February 19
The Idaho National Laboratory has worked with NASA in the past. The lab helped power NASA's Mars rover Perseverance with a radioisotope power system, which converts heat generated by plutonium-238 into electrical power.
The car-sized rover landed on Mars in February and has remained active on the red planet.
A new generation of smaller power plants that can be quickly set up in the field and then removed when not needed is one of the nuclear power plans the Energy Department has been working on with private businesses.
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NASA is looking for ideas for a nuclear reactor on the moon.
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