nuclear-news

As the world struggles with immediate dangers, NASA focuses on nuclear electricity for Mars

NASA reveals ‘nuclear engine’ that could provide power to the first humans on Mars

•  NASA plans to test the Kilopower engines on Earth this year
• Will use a uranium rector the size of a toilet roll to create heat
• High efficiency Stirling engine would then convert this to electricity, By Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com, 15 November 2017 |NASA’s  Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) has provided multi-year funding to the Kilopower project.

  The technology could produce from one to 10 kilowatts of electrical power, continuously for 10 years or more. The average U.S. household runs on about five kilowatts of power.

  Testing is due to start in November and go through early next year, with NASA partnering with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nevada National Security Site to appraise fission power technologies.

  ‘The Kilopower test program will give us confidence that this technology is ready for space flight development.

  ‘We’ll be checking analytical models along the way for verification of how well the hardware is working,’ said Lee Mason, STMD’s principal technologist for Power and Energy Storage at NASA Headquarters.

  NASA is set to begin testing a radical ‘nuclear engine’ that could provide power for astronauts on the Martian surface.

  Dubbed the ‘Kilopower’ it would use a uranium rector the size of a toilet roll to create heat.

  A high efficiency Stirling engine would then convert this to electricity, in a system that works in a similar way to a car engine……http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5083265/Nuclear-engines-provide-power-humans-Mars.html

November 17, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA