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Unanswered in article: How long does the power unit lasts until you have to replace the paper-towel-roll-sized U-235 core? Where are they going to put the old

Unanswered in article: How long does the power unit lasts until you have to replace the paper-towel-roll-sized U-235 core? Where are they going to put the old ones? What's the plug interface? Can I charge my iPhone? What about my electric razor? Are they going to test burying one in red sand for 15+ years and see if it can be dug up to phone home in an emergency?

SideburnsOfDoom 9y ago
And in 15 years, do you need to import a new core from Earth or what - have a uranium mining and refining operation up and running by then?
- jessriedel 9y ago
  Enriched uranium is one of the few supplies for which it's probably economically sustainable to provide continuously from Earth.
- godelski 9y ago
  Considering the half-life, I'd assume the housing and device would fail long before the U235 decays enough for significant loss in heat production.
gene-h 9y ago
>How long does the power unit lasts until you have to replace the paper-towel-roll-sized U-235 core? It's not a completed design, but based on their proposed design[0] 20 or more years. The old reactor core is going to remain in the spacecraft, which will probably be at the very least hundreds of thousands of kilometers from Earth. In short, you don't replace the core, you would replace the entire reactor, which is doable because the reactor isn't very big. >plug interface whatever you want it to be, it's not a complete design >Can I charge my iPhone? What about my electric razor? The current tests should enable reactors with electrical power outputs ranging from 500 watt to 10 kilowatts. An iphone probably has a power consumption of around 1 watt max, so you should probably be able to run between 500 and 10,000 iphones. Electric razors have a max power draw of 20 watts, so it should be possible to run between 25 and 500. >Are they going to test burying one in red sand for 15+ years and see if it can be dug up to phone home in an emergency? Any such tests would be purely ad-hoc. That being said, if you don't have enough power to phone home(<100 watts), you are already screwed. [0]https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20170011067.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/201700... [1]https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/kilopower-media-event-charts-final-011618.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/kilopow... [2]https://www.daftlogic.com/information-appliance-power-consumption.htm https://www.daftlogic.com/information-appliance-power-consum...

SideburnsOfDoom 9y ago

And in 15 years, do you need to import a new core from Earth or what - have a uranium mining and refining operation up and running by then?

jessriedel 9y ago
Enriched uranium is one of the few supplies for which it's probably economically sustainable to provide continuously from Earth.
godelski 9y ago
Considering the half-life, I'd assume the housing and device would fail long before the U235 decays enough for significant loss in heat production.

gene-h 9y ago

>How long does the power unit lasts until you have to replace the paper-towel-roll-sized U-235 core? It's not a completed design, but based on their proposed design[0] 20 or more years. The old reactor core is going to remain in the spacecraft, which will probably be at the very least hundreds of thousands of kilometers from Earth. In short, you don't replace the core, you would replace the entire reactor, which is doable because the reactor isn't very big. >plug interface whatever you want it to be, it's not a complete design >Can I charge my iPhone? What about my electric razor? The current tests should enable reactors with electrical power outputs ranging from 500 watt to 10 kilowatts. An iphone probably has a power consumption of around 1 watt max, so you should probably be able to run between 500 and 10,000 iphones. Electric razors have a max power draw of 20 watts, so it should be possible to run between 25 and 500. >Are they going to test burying one in red sand for 15+ years and see if it can be dug up to phone home in an emergency? Any such tests would be purely ad-hoc. That being said, if you don't have enough power to phone home(<100 watts), you are already screwed. [0]https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20170011067.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/201700... [1]https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/kilopower-media-event-charts-final-011618.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/kilopow... [2]https://www.daftlogic.com/information-appliance-power-consumption.htm https://www.daftlogic.com/information-appliance-power-consum...