BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The US government wants to know if anyone has a good idea for putting a nuclear fission power plant on the moon. NASA and the nation's leading federal nuclear research lab issued a request for proposals for a fission surface power system on Friday.
NASA is collaborating with the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory to develop a sun-independent power source for lunar missions by the end of the decade.
"Providing a reliable, high-power system on the moon is a critical next step in human space exploration, and achieving it is within our grasp," said Sebastian Corbisiero, the lab's Fission Surface Power Project lead.
"I expect fission surface power systems to greatly benefit our plans for power architectures for the moon and Mars, and even drive innovation for uses here on Earth," said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.
The reactor would be constructed on Earth and then transported to the moon.
The submitted plans for the fission surface power system should include a uranium-fueled reactor core, a system to convert nuclear power into usable energy, a thermal management system to keep the reactor cool, and a distribution system capable of providing no less than 40 kilowatts of continuous electric power for a period of ten years in the lunar environment.
Other requirements include the ability to turn itself off and on without human assistance, the ability to operate from the deck of a lunar lander, and the ability to be removed from the lander and run on a mobile system before being transported to a different lunar site for operation.
Furthermore, it should fit inside a 12-foot (4-meter) diameter cylinder that is 18 feet (6 meters) long when launched from Earth to the moon. It should not be heavier than 13,200 pounds (6,000 kilograms).
The request for proposals is for an initial system design and must be submitted by February 19.
Previously, the Idaho National Laboratory collaborated with NASA on a number of projects. Most recently, the lab provided a radioisotope power system to NASA's Mars rover Perseverance, which converts heat generated by the natural decay of plutonium-238 into electrical power.
The car-sized rover landed on Mars in February and has been active ever since.
The Energy Department has also been collaborating with private companies on various nuclear power plans, most notably on a new generation of smaller power plants ranging from small modular reactors to small mobile reactors that can be quickly set up in the field and then removed when not required.
You can use the NASA Official Website to learn more about this.