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Small Nuclear Reactors for Mars
- peter_d_sherman 6y agoRelated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilopower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilopower >"Kilopower is an experimental project aimed at producing new nuclear reactors for space travel.[1][2] The project started in October 2015, led by NASA and the DoE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).[3] As of 2017, the Kilopower reactors were intended to come in four sizes, able to produce from one to ten kilowatts of electrical power (1-10 kWe) continuously for twelve to fifteen years.[4][5] The fission reactor uses uranium-235 to generate heat that is carried to the Stirling converters with passive sodium heat pipes.[6] In 2018, positive test results for the Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) demonstration reactor were announced.[7]"
- ncmncm 6y agoNukes are more practical for a Venus hab, because you can just hang one a half-mile away and below, unshielded, and not even worry about leaks. Just hang your pile at the bottom of a tall polyprop fabric tube, heating up air, with a windmill turbine at the top. You hold all this stuff up with balloons. Venus surface days are hella long, but the cloud tops blast around at 400 mph, so a cloud-top day is like, what, 60 hours maybe? Polyprop because sulfuric acid clouds, you know.
- ncmncm 6y agoActually more like 100-120 hours. But who's counting?