Photo: Aubrey Gemignani / NASA / Getty Images
NASA and the US government’s main federal atomic research laboratory, the Idaho National Department of Energy, released a request for proposals to install a nuclear fission power plant on the Moon .
Both want to specify by the end of the decade an energy source for missions to the Moon , independent of the Sun.
“Provide a reliable high-power system on the Moon is a vital next step in human exploration of space, and achieving it is within our grasp, ”said Sebastian Corbisiero, director of the Surface Fission Energy Project.
According to NASA, According to The Associated Press, surface fission energy could provide abundant and constant electricity despite conditions environmental of Mars or the Moon, because if there is success in having a continuous presence on the Moon, the next step is the red planet.
Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, added in a statement: energy architectures on the Moon and Mars, and even drive innovation for use here on Earth. ”
Characteristics and requirements
According to the plan, the reactor would be built on Earth and then sent to the Moon .
Whoever attends to the request for the surface fission energy system, must submit a plan that includes a reactor core fueled with uranium, a system to convert nuclear energy into usable energy, a thermal regulation system that keep the reactor cool and a distribution system that supplies at least 40 kilowatts of continuous electrical power for a decade in the lunar environment.
In addition, the system should have the ability to turn on and off by itself , to operate from the platform of a lunar landing module and must have the ability to be removed from the device and be able to be transported to a different site in the Moon, where it operates.
And to be sent to the Moon, it must be able to fit into a cylinder of 12 feet in diameter and 18 long; your weight should not exceed 13, 200 pounds.
Proposals must arrive before 19 February.
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