Feddit.onlineWhat a nuclear reactor on the Moon really means for NASA's future
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I wasn't sure from reading the article: Is this planned to be a large RTG, or something more fancy?
The call is for a 100kW reactor, which is way more than an RTG. This will be more like a submarine/carrier pressurized fission reactor that’s fitted out for use in space.
100kw is a few orders of magnitude off for a submarine
oh, definitely. I just meant it's going to be something much closer to a "conventional" compact fission reactor (the only examples of which I could think of being for naval uses) than an RTG. I have to imagine that bleeding off all of that heat is going to be an interesting challenge in a hard vacuum.
The question is, is it bigger, or does it last longer, than 100 kW worth of solar panels? There are a number of places on the moon that are remarkably suitable for solar power.
Probably a souped up KRUSTY.