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#76 2019-07-13 16:18:34

kbd512
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Registered: 2015-01-02
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

I took a look at how long it took to construct a 3.2MW array over Ontario, California's Milliken landfill as part of a land-use reclamation project.  The project was slated to last about a year, but was actually completed in 2017, according to US EPA.  Construction started in December of 2015.  The report describing activities at the site said about two dozen men in hard hats were pouring small concrete slabs for the bases, so as not to penetrate the earthen cap over the landfill, and bolting steel tubes together to serve as the support structure for the panels.

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#77 2019-07-14 08:20:47

louis
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

1. The idea you would have wooden crates for delivering solar panels to Mars is just silly. The panels or PV film will be stowed away securely in specially designed, ultra clean holds prior to launch. There will be no need for wooden crates.

2.  I would expect something like ATK's Megaflex - yielding perhaps 80 Kw peak on the Mars surface to form part of a phase 1 PV installation. These would unfold automatically once positioned on the surface. You might have two or three of those.

3.  Remember the PV panels on the 6 Starships will still be operational. I don't think anyone knows yet how much they will generate but they could easily be averaging 10Kws during the sol. So maybe 60 Kws...who knows?

4.  The rest of the PV system would be deployed by robots following extensive testing on Earth. This is probably her ultra-lightweight but relatively low efficiency flexible PV would be used I expect. The weather on Mars, apart from the air temperature is extremely clement - no need to worry about thunderstorms, torrential rain, hailstones, high winds or destructive tornadoes. The idea you would require concrete bases for PV systems on Mars is, I would suggest, laughable.  I have proposed a system based on hooking the flexible PV to two wires strung taught between stable brackets planted firmly on the ground (maybe weighed down with regolith). The wires and brackets would be so arranged that the PV sections would be angled to maximise power output, as on Earth.

5. The robots could operate automatically according to a computer programme once RF transponder have been laid out on the site. Ideally I think you'd have two robot rovers operating. One would lay the brackets. The other would attach the PV sections. With 10 metre sections. A human-passenger rovers would probably unload cargo - PV panel sections, brackets with wires, together with all the related electrical equipment. If the rovers could complete 500 sq. metres a sol, it would take them about 120 sols to complete the whole installation. You might be starting propellant production after maybe 50 sols.

It may be that a more efficient system for laying out could be devised. It might make more sense to have the PV ready packed with its support structure, which would deployed by gravity on being lifted up by a robot. Or you might have gas-inflated support structures at intervals. I am sure there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat. 

6. From the above it can be seen that the Mars settlers will have plenty of energy available to them from the get-go to power rovers and habs etc. If the settlers of landing in the middle of a major dust storm, they could supplement their power with methalox generators.


Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com

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#78 2019-07-14 09:12:19

SpaceNut
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

1. you do realize that the wooden crates provide support to transport the glass panels to the site safely, stacked neatly within them which does not change for mars only wood to metal for the support. The BFR hold is located 50 m in the air at minimum.

2. now you want to switch from glass panels to the ATK fans on a pole that does not have any mounting on the ground to place them into a ground holder that does not exist. Still got the issue of moving from cargo hold to ground level issue from the transport carrier. Then they must be joined or connector all together for the grid, provided the computer connection to control the fan motion of opening and aligning once set in their holder.

3. well if you do not know then you have not tested your idea out where it can be done. Of course even the flexible panels can be tested for deployment but they are not going to give the same power levels with regards to the other types.

4. all of the deployment system is done with robotics if we do not use men so of course they will be fully tested here on earth long before going. As for mars weather its a pain for sure with the dust storms, dust devils, and pesky meteorites that do happen. The mounting of the panels is physics you can not have something stay upright without it being anchored.....

5. another layer of prep in getting the robots to the ground for use which would use that drop area as coordinate 0,0 and could move out from that location on a grid of which survey cameras would be used to layout the grid before moving. This would be a 3 camera system setup in a corner fashion with an arrangement of 90 degree for the side cameras with the center being at the 45 degree to allow for grid placement alignment. Unless these robots are given nuclear power we will be forced to only work during the days with solar. The robots can not avoid humans in the work area so once started its all them and no partail power from what is assemble can not work for making fuel....

6 agreed that a complete power system is what it will take

6.

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#79 2019-07-14 18:55:26

louis
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From: UK
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

1. My point is that the method of delivery to site on Earth is entirely different from delivery to site on Mars. Space X (or any other Mars coloniser) is going to ensure that cargo can be released from holds with relative ease. The way the Starlink satellites were packed in is probably more indicative of how this will be achieved.

https://wonderfulengineering.com/elon-m … on-rocket/

2.   Space X seem to be thinking in terms of flexible PV for their solar power station. I am not sure glass panels will really be part of the package.

Although Space X haven't mention ATK systems, I think you probably need something that go into operation immediately. If you are setting up a hab, it is going to be located a good distance from the rockets. Easier to have an independent system rather than run cables over several hundred metres, though I guess that would be possible. A system for Mars might be smaller than is possible in zero G space, so smaller than the Megaflex perhaps,  but I think something using the fan system would be ideal.

3.   I think given the experience with robots on Mars we can have an accurate idea of solar power generation on Mars. How exactly the PV system would be deployed is a matter for planning but I am sure it won't be a matter of unpacking crates, laying concrete bases and using power drills to secure panels to frames.

4. This video regarding farm robots shows how dextrous and fast moden robots can be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qrlFse5I1U

Dust storms are more of an annoyance I would say. The reason rovers have closed down on Mars to date is because they are v. small and rely on PV power, so are in danger of freezing to death unless they shut down and preserve battery power. Dust devils likewise are v. weak on Mars.

A meteorite shower is probably the greatest danger on Mars possibly. But then that is true, whatever your energy system - especially so if the meteorites hit your return rocket and damage it substantially. We can't eliminate risk entirely. I think the risk does support the idea of not having a single continuous PV array, but maybe splitting it between several locations.

5. The use of transponder grids is well establish with farm robots and lawn mower robots. Robots can be programmed to recognise humans and come to a halt if they are nearby. I doubt we'll want to work during the night because of the extreme cold but a properly designed PV system will provide power continuously. Power can be stored overnight in chemical batteries and methalox generators (using methane and oxygen manufactured previously) can also provide power through the night.

6. I think we can see the outline of a PV power system with effective storage of power.







SpaceNut wrote:

1. you do realize that the wooden crates provide support to transport the glass panels to the site safely, stacked neatly within them which does not change for mars only wood to metal for the support. The BFR hold is located 50 m in the air at minimum.

2. now you want to switch from glass panels to the ATK fans on a pole that does not have any mounting on the ground to place them into a ground holder that does not exist. Still got the issue of moving from cargo hold to ground level issue from the transport carrier. Then they must be joined or connector all together for the grid, provided the computer connection to control the fan motion of opening and aligning once set in their holder.

3. well if you do not know then you have not tested your idea out where it can be done. Of course even the flexible panels can be tested for deployment but they are not going to give the same power levels with regards to the other types.

4. all of the deployment system is done with robotics if we do not use men so of course they will be fully tested here on earth long before going. As for mars weather its a pain for sure with the dust storms, dust devils, and pesky meteorites that do happen. The mounting of the panels is physics you can not have something stay upright without it being anchored.....

5. another layer of prep in getting the robots to the ground for use which would use that drop area as coordinate 0,0 and could move out from that location on a grid of which survey cameras would be used to layout the grid before moving. This would be a 3 camera system setup in a corner fashion with an arrangement of 90 degree for the side cameras with the center being at the 45 degree to allow for grid placement alignment. Unless these robots are given nuclear power we will be forced to only work during the days with solar. The robots can not avoid humans in the work area so once started its all them and no partail power from what is assemble can not work for making fuel....

6 agreed that a complete power system is what it will take

6.


Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com

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#80 2019-07-14 19:23:50

SpaceNut
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From: New Hampshire
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Why do we keep having solar talked about in a not solar topic?
We have solar topics for this, do we not....

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#81 2019-07-14 19:45:22

kbd512
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

SpaceNut,

Ideology typically doesn't have much to do with practical engineering.  We have certain people who are after specific results, so any physics or other practical limitations affecting the results they wish to achieve will be ignored and their own ideation will be substituted for anything resembling a well-tested, properly engineered solution.  So, we have an ideology problem.  Both solar and nuclear power have optimal uses for space exploration purposes.  Solar panels have power output limitations that mandate line-of-sight and relatively close proximity to the gigantic fusion reactor at the center of our solar system and fission reactors have governmental policy restrictions placed upon their use that limits who / how / when / where they may be used.

In any event, no single power technology will be the answer to all problems.  We don't make Methane from the Sabatier reaction here on Earth for commercial use because it's economically impractical, in both the monetary and energy efficiency sense, so long as we can simply pump it out of the ground.  We can't do that on Mars, so far as we know, so we need a range of power solutions intended to address specific use cases.

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#83 2021-02-12 13:06:00

SpaceNut
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From: New Hampshire
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Posts: 28,747

Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

I got thinking about the ballistic heating and if we did deliver a reactor of this type we could use the salt to absorb the heat from the heatshield to start the process of being able to low the need for a thick shield and to provide power until the reactor is connected.
This makes for a capsule delivery to a site with the core and tank integrated into a ready to power up design....

Nasa document sites are now burying there links in a new folder
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/201 … 002010.pdf

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#84 2021-02-20 13:39:28

SpaceNut
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From: New Hampshire
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Power creation and more have been sort of the thing to solve for man to go to stay when we are able to land larger masses than a rover on the planets surface so size matters.
My home energy calculation means for a crewman to survive they need at a minimum 500 watts to cover all support needs and that a peak need for construction would be closer to 1 kw per person to be stored for when we need its extra amount. The grid must also have storage as part of the all other energy creation schemes built much like the power wall units.

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#85 2021-10-16 12:13:38

SpaceNut
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

A KRUSTY reactor puts out 10 kw of electrical with 30 kw of Infrared or heat energy at the radiators so we have plenty of heat to process the soil turning the radiator section into a hot pan baking system.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/201 … 005435.pdf

1*VB61N4SZ2MvSW42H3iYobQ.png

http://anstd.ans.org/NETS-2019-Papers/T … t-94-0.pdf

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/file … 011618.pdf

Lunar and mars version
kilopower-vs-fps-768x258.png

even better 40kW of power...

https://beyondnerva.wordpress.com/2017/ … er-part-1/

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#86 2021-10-16 13:25:56

Calliban
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From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,352

Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

We would need 60x 10KWe units to provide 600kWe. Total mass = 108 tonnes.  As these systems are already mostly developed, Musk should able to buy them.  Nuclear systems scale up more efficiently than they scale down.  A 600kWe reactor system would weigh a lot less than 60x 10kWe systems.  The neat thing about these Kilopower units is that after a decade of operation, they still contain about 99% of the uranium they started with.  At end of life, they can be dissolved in nitric acid and provide starter fuel for Mars built reactors, probably AHRs.  By this time, progress will hopefully have been made locating Martian uranium and thorium ores.

Last edited by Calliban (2021-10-16 13:28:03)


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#87 2021-10-16 14:29:25

SpaceNut
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

The real gain is for the larger 40 kw version at the lower kg mass of 5800kg means we can now split them up between multiple ships to get to the critical payloads to deliver even on a first starship cargo mission.

One could after disassemble a unit and focus the solar concentrated light onto the end of the reactors heat engine and make power still once the nuclear materials are removed. Recycle the cooling radiators to the new reactor and keep building power sources.

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#88 2022-06-21 20:44:32

SpaceNut
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are working together to advance space nuclear technologiesfission_release.jpg?itok=7o2GFBou

The contracts, to be awarded through the DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, are each valued at approximately $5 million. The contracts fund the development of initial design concepts for a 40-kilowatt class fission power system planned to last at least 10 years in the lunar environment.

Relatively small and lightweight compared to other power systems, fission systems are reliable and could enable continuous power regardless of location, available sunlight, and other natural environmental conditions. A demonstration of such systems on the Moon would pave the way for long-duration missions on the Moon and Mars.

NASA picks three companies to develop lunar nuclear power systems

Under the 12-month contracts, Lockheed Martin will partner with BWXT and Creare. Westinghouse will team up with Aerojet Rocketdyne, while IX (a joint venture of Intuitive Machines and X-Energy) will work with Maxar and Boeing on a proposal.

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#89 2022-06-26 12:05:27

Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Are Thorium Reactors the Future of Nuclear Energy?

https://investingnews.com/daily/resourc … ar-energy/

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#90 2022-07-14 19:29:13

SpaceNut
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Repost for the content on larger reactor

Mars_B4_Moon wrote:

MIT design for Mars propellant production trucks wins NASA competition
https://www.marsdaily.com/reports/MIT_d … n_999.html

Using the latest technologies currently available, it takes over 25,000 tons of rocket hardware and propellant to land 50 tons of anything on the planet Mars. So, for NASA's first crewed mission to Mars, it will be critical to learn how to harvest the red planet's local resources in order to "live off the land" sustainably.

On June 24, NASA announced that an MIT team received first place in the annual Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts - Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition for their in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) design that produces propellant on Mars from local resources instead of bringing it from Earth.

Their project "Bipropellant All-in-one In-situ Resource Utilization Truck and Mobile Autonomous Reactor Generating Electricity" (BART and MARGE) describes a system where pairs of BART and MARGE travel around Mars in tandem; BART handles all aspects of production, storage, and distribution of propellant, while MARGE provides power for the operation. After presenting their concept to a panel of NASA experts and aerospace industry leaders at the RASC-AL Forum in June, the team took first place overall at the competition and was also recognized as "Best in Theme."

"Previous ISRU concepts utilized several different small rovers and a fixed central plant, but MIT's BART and MARGE concept is composed of essentially just two types of fully mobile, integrated large trucks with no central plant," says Chloe Gentgen, PhD candidate in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) who served as team lead for the project. "The absence of a central plant enables easy scalability of the architecture, and being fully mobile and integrated, our system has the flexibility to produce propellant wherever the best ice reserves can be found and then deliver it wherever it is needed."

Gentgen led an interdisciplinary group of undergraduate and graduate students from MIT, including Guillem Casadesus Vila, a visiting undergraduate student in AeroAstro from the Centre de Formacio Interdisciplinaria Superior at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya; Madelyn Hoying, a PhD candidate in the Medical Engineering and Medical Physics program within the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology; AeroAstro alum Jayaprakash Kambhampaty '22, rising MIT senior Mindy Long of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS); rising sophomore Laasya Nagareddy of the Department of Mathematics; rising junior John Posada of AeroAstro; and rising sophomore Marina Ten Have of EECS.

The team was formed last September when interested students joined the project. AeroAstro PhD candidate George Lordos, who founded the MIT Space Resources Workshop and who has led or advised all MIT NASA competition teams since 2017, was a mentor for the project team. Jeffrey Hoffman, professor of the practice in AeroAstro; and Olivier de Weck, Apollo Program Professor and professor of astronautics and engineering systems in AeroAstro, served as faculty advisors.

"One year ago, the MOXIE experiment led by Dr. Michael Hecht and our team's advisor, Professor Jeffrey Hoffman, produced the first oxygen on Mars. Today, we are on the cusp of orbital test flights that will bring us closer to the first human mission to Mars," says Lordos.

"As humans venture to other worlds, finding and utilizing local water and carbon resources will be indispensable for sustainable exploration of the solar system, so the objective of our MIT team's concept is an exciting and topical technology."

The MIT team addressed the RASC-AL theme "Mars Water-based ISRU Architecture," which required delivering the target 50 tons of propellant at the end of each year and the ability to operate for at least five years without human maintenance. A few other constraints were placed, chief among them that teams could rely on one or more landings of 45 tons of mass and 300 cubic meters of volume on Mars, leaving it to university teams to propose an architecture, budget, and a flight schedule to support their mission.

They developed a comprehensive Mars mission architecture and defined a comprehensive concept of operations, from a precursor ice scouting and technology demonstration mission in 2031 to the main propellant production, storage, and delivery mission in 2036. BART is an end-to-end "ice-to-propellant" system that gathers water from Martian subsurface ice and extracts carbon dioxide from the red planet's atmosphere to synthesize liquid methane and liquid oxygen bipropellant. These are then stored onboard at cryogenic temperatures until delivery directly into a rocket's propellant tanks.

BART is accompanied by MARGE, a 40 kilowatt electric mobile nuclear reactor based on NASA's Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology project (KRUSTY, which also inspired the MIT team's name) that generates power from nuclear fission to support long-duration operations on distant planets.

For the team's proposed mission, four tandems of BART and MARGEs will roam the region known as Arcadia Planitia at the mid-northern latitudes of Mars following a prospecting rover named LISA (Locating Ice Scouting Assistant) in search of accessible ice to use for propellant production. The entire system has 100 tons of storage capacity and can produce 156 tons per year, against a demand of 50 tons per year, and requires only three landings.

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#91 2022-07-14 19:34:58

SpaceNut
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

https://rascal.nianet.org/wp-content/up … -Paper.pdf

a RedWater drill, scroll compressors, water electrolysis and Sabatier reaction chambers, cryocoolers, heat exchangers, fuel cells and 25t storage tanks.

It is powered by MARGE, our mobile power truck design based on NASA’s upcoming 40kWe Kilopower reactor

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#92 2022-09-02 04:13:41

Mars_B4_Moon
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Posts: 8,892

Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

The Space Review: Why the molten salt reactor should be our next big step for terrestrial and off-planet needs

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4429/1

Korea Pares Back Renewables as It Taps Nuclear for Climate Goal

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles … imate-goal

Boris Johnson speech
PM confirms £700m nuclear power expansion amid energy crisis

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p … 57464.html

Can Japan Learn to Love Nuclear Power Again?

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/artic … -fukushima

Why Young People Are Now Nuclear Power's Most Potent Supporters

https://worldcrunch.com/green/nuclear-support-youth

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#93 2022-09-02 13:00:04

SpaceNut
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Seems that some would want Thorium for a starter reactor as it would then be possible to get to that next step but all I want is progress of use to be started.

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#94 2022-09-03 01:43:26

kbd512
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

SpaceNut,

Thorium is about six times more abundant than Uranium here on Earth, so yes, some of us would like to start using cheaper and more abundant nuclear fuel that's exceptionally difficult to turn into a nuclear weapon.  As long as every rare Earth metal mine on the planet is dredging up Thorium by the truck load, rather than spreading radioactive material all over the place, some of us want to dump it in a reactor to get electricity and heat from it.  That seems like a much better use than as pothole filler.

The people making permanent magnets undoubtedly view Thorium as unwanted hazardous waste.  I see it as an incredibly valuable metal that precludes the need to burn so much stuff to generate power.  If you want to bring about this magical all-electric future, then you're going to need a hell of a lot more power to do it.  That power will only come from burning something unless we start making the most out of nuclear power.

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#95 2022-09-03 21:34:14

SpaceNut
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Saw that manganese thorium was in some of my searches.

07MG-10.jpg

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#96 2022-09-04 03:03:47

Mars_B4_Moon
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Registered: 2006-03-23
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Estimating Uranium and Thorium Abundance with Geoneutrinos
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/est … oneutrinos

New space nuclear reactor could power ten International Space Stations
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/88261/ne … index.html
An in-development nuclear reactor has passed a recent evaluation by China's Ministry of Science and Technology, and can produce one megawatt of electricity.

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#97 2023-01-29 16:22:23

SpaceNut
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From: New Hampshire
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Seems not much is being said as to where the unit stands for manned use for the future.

KRUSTY Reactor Design

unct_a_1725382_f0001_oc.jpg

Demonstrate shield materials and effectiveness: This goal was never intended to be important because shielding in a room on Earth is vastly different from space environments; however, the KRUSTY shield was thick enough to allow some benchmarking of codes by measuring the dose rate at various locations in the room during operation. KRUSTY used B4C for neutron shielding because of lower cost and quicker procurement. B4C is a potential shield for space application, although LiH is generally preferred (for lower mass) if it can meet cost and performance requirements.

Sounds like a dual-purpose use as you are nearly a battery at that point with the material shield.

unct_a_1725382_f0002_oc.jpg

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/202 … Design.pdf

https://www.iaea.org/topics/design

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#98 2023-03-20 11:52:30

Mars_B4_Moon
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Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 8,892

Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Rolls-Royce got British government money to build nuclear reactor for Lunar Space colonies or for some kind of future Moon base.

Solving space junk problem may require lasers and space tugs, NASA says
https://www.space.com/space-debris-lase … asa-report

Transport and Energy Module: Russia’s new NEP Tug
https://beyondnerva.com/2020/01/29/tran … gy-module/
Russia’s “Zeus” – Nuclear Space Tug Details
https://www.leonarddavid.com/russias-ze … g-details/

The first mission, named Zeus, was envisioned to operate for 50 months and deliver payloads to the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter through multiple gravity assists. Heat power: 3.8 MW and Electric power: 1 MW

The Russian systems planned before Putin sent soliders invading Ukraine, Russia is currently under economic sanctions.

Project Prometheus (also known as Project Promethian) was established in 2003 by NASA to develop nuclear-powered systems for long-duration space missions. https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti … s-to-mars/
Missions planned to involve Prometheus Nuclear Systems and Technology included Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter,  Prometheus was focused on Nuclear electric propulsion, electricity would then be used to run ion engines. After JIMO, NASA and ESA planned a joint mission to Jupiter's moons, the Europa Jupiter System Mission. This mission was also cancelled in 2011 and today both NASA and ESA have their own separate missions to Europa. Other Jupiter system missions and Callisto and Europa Landers are other proposed astrobiology missions.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-03-20 11:53:51)

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#99 2023-03-20 18:38:29

SpaceNut
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Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

Just enough to troll for an article on where the funds came from and more as "Rolls said the UK Space Agency had offered it £2.9 million ($3.5 million) to help research "how nuclear power could be used to support a future Moon base for astronauts"."

Rolls-Royce wins UK funds for 'Moon' nuclear reactors

"Scientists and engineers at Rolls-Royce are working on the micro-reactor program to develop technology that will provide power needed for humans to live and work on the Moon," the aerospace company added in a statement.

Rolls forecast its first car-sized reactor would be ready to be sent to the Moon by 2029.

Such that the size is under the 100kw is a big deal...

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#100 2023-03-21 01:38:13

Calliban
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From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,352

Re: NASA and DOE to test kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications

£2.9 million is piss in the wind compared to the funds needed to develop a new nuclear reactor. This is enough to develop a concept design, but nowhere near enough to develop actual hardware.  The British government have always been tight when it comes to developing new technologies.  But they will hand out hundreds of billions in benefits to people that don't want to work.  But they have never appreciated the value of supporting industries that might actually make some money.


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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