Name: White House Encourages NASA to Work on Space-Based Nuclear Power and Propulsion Systems
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White House Encourages NASA to Work on Space-Based Nuclear Power and Propulsion Systems

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In what’s likely to be one of the last space policy initiatives of his administration, President Donald Trump has issued a directive that lays out a roadmap for nuclear power applications beyond Earth., released on December 16th, calls on NASA and other federal agencies to advance the development of in-space nuclear propulsion systems as well as a nuclear fission power system on the Moon.“Space nuclear power and propulsion is a fundamentally enabling technology for American deep space missions to Mars and beyond,” Scott Pace, the executive secretary of the National Space Council, said in a . “The United States intends to remain the leader among spacefaring nations, applying nuclear power technology safely, securely and sustainably in space.”Space-based nuclear power isn’t exactly a new idea: NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission considered thermal nuclear propulsion – a concept that would have involved heating up propellants with a nuclear reactor – way back in the 1970s as part of .A different kind of nuclear power, which converts the heat from radioactive decay to electricity, has been used with hardware ranging from to the . (NASA’s Perseverance rover, which is due to land on Mars in February, also has a .)NASA once considered putting a nuclear electric propulsion system on a spacecraft known as the, but that mission was . Now there’s renewed interest in missions that require more power than can be generated by solar arrays – and that’s reviving interest in nuclear power for space applications.At a in Washington, D.C., NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said nuclear propulsion systems would be “absolutely a game-changer” for space travel. The safety guidelines laid out at that meeting set the stage for the new directive.Reacting to the release of Space Policy Directive 6, Bridenstine hailed nuclear power as an enabling technology for , which aims to establish a base at the Moon’s south pole during the 2020s.“NASA strongly supports the White House’s continued leadership on the agency’s&nbsp;Artemis program, which includes landing the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024,” . “At the Moon we will prepare for new science and human missions deeper into the solar system. SPD-6 bolsters the agency’s efforts to develop affordable, safe and reliable nuclear systems, including technology capable of continuously powering operations on other worlds and propelling future human missions to Mars.”NASA is working with the Department of Energy and commercial partners to design a nuclear plant capable of generating 10 kilowatts of electrical power on the Moon. The demonstration power plant, which would make use of could become a reality in the late 2020s.It’s not clear how the change in the White House would affect plans for nuclear power in space – but for what it’s worth, President-elect Joe Biden sees terrestrial nuclear power as one of the avenues for .This is an adapted version of a report published on . Lead image: An artist’s conception shows a Mars transit habitat with a nuclear propulsion system. : NASAbloggers like this:

In what’s likely to be one of the last space policy initiatives of his administration, President Donald Trump has issued a directive that lays out a roadmap for nuclear power applications beyond Earth., released on December 16th, calls on NASA and other federal agencies to advance the development of in-space nuclear propulsion systems as well as a nuclear fission power system on the Moon.“Space nuclear power and propulsion is a fundamentally enabling technology for American deep space missions to Mars and beyond,” Scott Pace, the executive secretary of the National Space Council, said in a...

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Alan Boyle

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White House Encourages NASA to Work on Space-Based Nuclear Power and Propulsion Systems

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