Sister blog of Physicists of the Caribbean in which I babble about non-astronomy stuff, because everyone needs a hobby

Thursday, 3 May 2018

Small nuclear reactors for NASA

Lower power Kilopower systems, like the one kilowatt version, can power a basic toaster, while the largest version, a 10 kilowatt model, can do a bit more. Four or five of the latter could be used to power a habitat on Mars and importantly, they don't rely on the sun, meaning they can be used on planets with less sunlight than ours, in shadowed regions and during light-blocking dust storms. "Kilopower's compact size and robustness allows us to deliver multiple units on a single lander to the surface that provides tens of kilowatts of power," NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk said in January.

4 or 5 10 kW models are enough, they say, to extract propellant for Earth return. Should that fail, at least they won't run out of toast.

... also I still want a shiny chrome toaster with a v-shaped slot for a red LED that activates when the toast is done. Don't tell me you wouldn't buy one.


https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/02/nasa-completes-full-power-tests-small-nuclear-reactor/

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