NASA[/caption] For years the possibility of nuclear fission has given hope to mankind. Nuclear fission would help us break our dependence on fossil fuels and help us power longer flights into deep space. Well, NASA has been experimenting with a nuclear fission power system and, so far, the results have gone extremely well. From IFLScience: The system is called Kilopower, and it involves using the heat generated by uranium to produce power. It’s a $20 million project that’s been billed as a way to support human missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
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At a conference at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio, engineers from the $20 million project revealed results of the tests, conducted earlier this year in the Nevada desert. And they said their prototype, called KRUSTY (Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology), exceeded all of their expectations. “I’m really glad to be able to report back to you that the test went great,” Marc Gibson, the lead engineer on Kilopower, said at the event. Kilopower is a technology that uses heat generated by the nuclear fission of uranium to produce power. It could theoretically supply constant power for hundreds of years, with no need to rely on consumables or the Sun. As you can imagine, the folks at NASA are pretty excited about this! “Kilopower is ingenious in its design,” James Reuter, acting associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, said at the conference. “The aim is to solve key technological challenges that will enable more ambitious human science missions in the future.”
One thing that NASA is excited about is that Kilopower can be turned on at any time during a mission and the power is completely scalable. Also, since the reactor isn’t turned on until it reaches space, it adds an extra layer of safety prior to the launch. Again from IFLScience: “If there was a 15-year mission to the Kuiper Belt, we don’t have to start the reactor up until we get there,” added Gibson. With the completion of this test, the team said they no longer had any need for further ground demonstrations. Now they’re seeking approval to actually test the Kilopower system in space, something that will be looked at over the next 18 months. With NASA continually looking to broaden its horizons, be it the Moon or Mars, a source of power like this is pretty desirable. It’s fairly cheap, easy, and provides more juice than other sources like solar power. If we want to conduct prolonged stays on other worlds, we may well need something like Kilopower to make that a reality. Do you think this could potentially benefit us on Earth, too?