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/
Sister blog of Physicists of the Caribbean in which I babble about non-astronomy stuff, because everyone needs a hobby
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Whose cloud is it anyway ?
I really don't understand the most militant climate activists who are also opposed to geoengineering . Or rather, I think I understand t...
-
"To claim that you are being discriminated against because you have lost your right to discriminate against others shows a gross lack o...
-
For all that I know the Universe is under no obligation to make intuitive sense, I still don't like quantum mechanics. Just because some...
-
Hmmm. [The comments below include a prime example of someone claiming they're interested in truth but just want higher standard, where...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Due to a small but consistent influx of spam, comments will now be checked before publishing. Only egregious spam/illegal/racist crap will be disapproved, everything else will be published.