NASA is advancing an existing technology
to enable future space exploration of
the solar system with plans to expand
human missions to Mars and science
exploration of the outer planets the
need for reliable power becomes
essential space qualified nuclear
reactors are one technology that can
provide for safe and reliable power for
many of these missions nuclear power in
space is not new these clips from the
1960s provide a window into the past a
u.s. program was put into place that
developed and flew the world's first
space reactor
before the reactor is turned on that is
prior to fission starting the reactor
fuel is very safe and only mildly
radioactive
a joint venture between NASA and the
Department of Energy is underway to
develop a new space reactor that meets a
range of exploration missions the
reactor called Kilopower can deliver
a range of 1 to 10 kilowatts of
electricity that is enough to power
anything from one toaster to an entire
household Kilopower has been tested
in the Nevada desert at the Nevada
National Security site the test had a
fissioning reactor deliver heat to
stirling converters each converter
produced about 100 watts the goal of the
test was to confirm the system's
predicted performance the reactor core
is a cylinder of enriched uranium that
is six inches in diameter a beryllium
oxide reflector will surround the
uranium core a single rod of boron
carbide is used to turn on the reactor
the reactor uses well-established
Duclair physics to self-regulate the
fission reactions and this feature
eliminates the need for a complicated
control system the reactor uses nuclear
fission to produce heat which is
delivered by heat pipes to power
generators known as stirling converters
a radiator is used to keep the stirling
converters cool a great deal remains to
be done but with the successful
completion of the nuclear test in nevada
nasa is coming ever closer to the
reality of a space qualified nuclear
reactor over the coming years the
reliability and safety of Kilopower
will be 10
to assure that when the new era of space
exploration begins all systems will be
ago
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