Nuclear fission reactor from NASA will provide electricity on the Moon and Mars

[Gator]

Nuclear fission reactor will provide electricity on the Moon and Mars • Earth.com

WWW.EARTH.COM

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NASA's Fission Surface Power Project has completed its initial phase, designing a nuclear fission reactor for power on the Moon and Mars.

I found this article very interesting.

[NetRngr]

It is very interesting yet one has to ask, why? I understand what they want however there is one major rub. You have to man nuclear power stations else bad things tend to happen even very small ones. As has been shown numerous times here on Earth when they are manned accidents happen . I'm sure a nuclear accident on the moon will go over well with the rest of the world. Also you dont just switch on a nuclear power station. They have to ramp up and with no form of storage any power not used is simply wasted. They also need to be cooled, and while I'm sure there are ways to accomplish this water is the best we've come up with here on Earth and currently that is something that is in rather short supply on the Moon.

I grew up, as did many of us our age dreaming of a lunar spaceport with spaceships coming and going just like in our favorite Sci-Fi shows. As I have grown up and learned more I now see how challenging of an undertaking that would be making it very unlikely to happen in our lifetime much less our kids lifetime. You simply can't get the materials needed to do something like this up there cheaply enough to make it a reality as awesome as that would be.  
One also has to ask why given the fact that pretty much every nation with a space presence is shooting for much farther than the moon. I mean really when was the last time we sent anyone to the moon? The answer is December 7th 1972.

Given the massive defunding of NASA by our government and the general apathy towards space exploration these days I would say a better solution would be to outsource these types of things to third party contractors and let them foot the bill for making a manned moon station a reality. We could then devote what little budget NASA is now given to furthering space exploration.

I really hope that someday a lunar station is a reality. It would make space exploration so much easier and more cost effective yet the cost of construction of such a base would be astronomical. Who am I kidding I'm gonna keep on dreaming of it being a reality cause I'll never see it but I can imagine it.