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tahanson43206

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Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 13,253

Re: Light weight nuclear reactor, updating Mars Direct

For Calliban re #200

SearchTerm:Nuclear power fission tradeoffs Reference SP-100 design

The growth plan described would require support by on-site personnel.

If you have time, could you (would you) rough out a staffing plan for a nuclear power facility for Mars?

Even if the initial stages of development are automated, there would (presumably) be a small army of personnel supporting the onsite systems for several years prior to landing for several years after.

Multiple Nation States are currently capable of setting up nuclear facilities on Mars.

(th)

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 5,566

Re: Light weight nuclear reactor, updating Mars Direct

DARPA issued a solicitation for proposals for the next phase of a demonstration of a nuclear powered spacecraft
https://spacenews.com/darpa-moving-forw … pacecraft/
US military wants nuclear rocket ideas for missions near the moon
https://www.space.com/darpa-nuclear-roc … moon-space

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 5,566

Re: Light weight nuclear reactor, updating Mars Direct

China’s mysterious space nuclear reactor allegedly can power 10 International Space Stations
https://interestingengineering.com/inno … e-stations
Little is known about the specifications of the project, but it is edging closer.

Designed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the dynamic reactor can generate one megawatt of electricity — 100 times more powerful than a similar device Nasa plans to put on the surface of the moon by 2030 — for spacecraft power supply and propulsion.

That is enough to power the equivalent of 10 International Space Stations, Space said. Previously, a NASA estimate had revealed that the complex receives 120 kilowatts of electrical power at most.

The project was launched with funding from the central government in 2019.
Already a step ahead with nuclear-powered space missions

Robotic missions to outer planets receive extremely low levels of energy from the sun, rendering solar power generation "useless". For such missions, nuclear fission systems offer efficient levels of power and electricity propulsion.

China has been actively pursuing and expanding its deep space capabilities in recent years, developing cryogenic rockets, reusable launchers, and suborbital spaceplanes. It is also highly experienced in using nuclear power during space missions.

The country is highly experienced in using nuclear power during space missions, with the Chang'e 3 moon lander, for example, using a plutonium-powered nuclear generator to survive the frigid, two-week lunar night.

In 2019, senior Chinese space exploration official Wu Weiren, director of the newly-established Tiandu deep space exploration laboratory, called for developments in nuclear power for space to meet future mission requirements.

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 5,566

Re: Light weight nuclear reactor, updating Mars Direct

NASA Releases Updated Moon To Mars Objectives

https://spaceref.com/science-and-explor … bjectives/

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 5,566

Re: Light weight nuclear reactor, updating Mars Direct

Coming to a campus near you: Nuclear microreactors

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science … -rcna69980

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 27,400

Re: Light weight nuclear reactor, updating Mars Direct

We have been talking about the SMR or what is also a Micro nuclear system capable of meg watts in the less than 100Me as compared to the gigawatt systems. So, to get then down in size we are needing Nano sized systems that place them into the 100kw size which could supply several homes rather than a small city.

Is there a micronuclear reactor that can power up a house for entire life time with the nano level of materials needed as

Our Fission-fusion nanoreactor has 5cm and 200gram, as an unlimited source of cheap clean energy, can decrease the price of energy 10 times and can power a single-family home or car. The principle is similar to two-phase thermonuclear weapons, in plasma we ignited nanometric artificial sun. The Gravi-nuclear reactor is highly safe because uses only 1gram of Thorium and a drop of Deuterium and does not generate any radioactive waste. Generated power depends on fuel, but will be about 20kW with Thorium-Deuterium. Additionally need a heat exchanger.

This is also the size that mars will need as its small enough to bring to mars in a starship sized craft.

Here is web page with such talk even to be used in a car...

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 5,566

Re: Light weight nuclear reactor, updating Mars Direct

I don't know if the Moon will have Nuclear Cars. We have an ongoing 'Ford Nucleon' type threads and some threads discussing the crazy vehicle concepts used in exploration of the Antarctic.

There has been talk on the web for many years about getting electricity and power on Mars, MOX fuelrods with in core control rods, a rotating reflector drum for shut down, SAFE-400 were NASA 's small experimental nuclear fission reactors for electricity production and SP-100 a U.S. research program on fission reactors usable as small power systems, recent discussion on the possibility of fusion getting more real and no longer being a fringe scifi thing. A lot of people think RTGs are not dangerous since they are not true reactors but they can be far more dangerous and are already in common use by multiple countries, agencies in space. The RTG heat produced through spontaneous radioactive decay non-adjustable and steadily decreasing rate that RTG's are commonly used for electricity or heat they function independently of sunlight, which is necessary for deep space exploration and you will not survive the Lunar Night without some kind of power source. People have even 'Lost' this stuff, the CIA back in 1965 even once Lost an RTG when it was put up on the Indian side of the Himalayas for a station to look into China but ended up sliding down a mountain somewhere during an avalanche. NASA has already been using RTG's for many years in space with Vikings, Galileo, Voyager, the Mars Science Lab, the Russians and Chinese have also used Nuclear power, NASA's Cassini mission and ESA with the Ulysses spacecraft, the Soviet one time used Nuclear power for lighthouses and beacons at cold stations on Earth. I think an online newspaper from India called the Hindu says that India hopes to have manned missions and space stations and that ISRO plans for nuclear energy use in space.
I believe researchers looked at Stirling, Brayton, Rankine, and Ericsson heat cycle systems for NASA Asteroid exploration or maybe it was a news article on Glenn research project to explore distant Kuiper Belt Objects. There was also the Snapshot in 1965 which tested nuclear power and an ion engine.
'The Snapshot (Space Nuclear Auxiliary Power Shot) satellite was launched on April 3, 1965 a SNAP 10A nuclear power system into a 1300 km orbit with a cesium ion engine as a secondary payload.'
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/snapshot.htm
103 page pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20170215062 … 146831.pdf
Overview
https://web.archive.org/web/20130215134 … rview.html
Orbit
https://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=1314

Tahanson has updated other forum discussions with news article 'Rolls-Royce has received funding to develop a nuclear reactors for Space'

Here are some of the British news headlines

Rolls-Royce reveals ‘nuclear’ plan for the Moon – and it could be up and running sooner than you think
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/21749045/ … tor-power/
Rolls-Royce gets funding for moon base nuclear reactor
https://news.sky.com/story/rolls-royce- … r-12835523
It is hoped that the eventual lunar base will prove a suitable home for astronauts

Here is another discussion

'NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications'
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=7947

In general I am against using the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars but in some areas of science there is a clear link and cross over between the two areas of exploration or colonization for example to develop nuclear reactor for Moon exploration will help Mars exploration.