NASA wants ideas on how to put nuclear reactor on Moon

 

Fission plant would be built on earth then sent into space

By Graeme Massie

NASA wants to put a nuclear power plant on the Moon and is asking for ideas on how to do it.

The fission power source would be used to support permanent human life on the Moon, before future manned missions to explore Mars.

The US space agency is working with the government’s top nuclear research lab, the Department of Energy’s National Laboratory in Idaho, to develop the power source by the end of the decade.

“Providing a reliable, high-power system on the moon is a vital next step in human space exploration, and achieving it is within our grasp,” said Sebastian Corbisiero, the Fission Surface Power Project lead at the lab.

A nuclear reactor would provide essential power regardless of conditions on either the Moon or Mars, and be built on Earth before being sent into space.