5 ms·
Heat will be an asset, not a problem: the Moon sub-surface temperature is around -20C ([1]), which means there's an easy way to dissipate power. And if we have
by krasin 4y ago
Heat will be an asset, not a problem: the Moon sub-surface temperature is around -20C ([1]), which means there's an easy way to dissipate power. And if we have any humans living on the moon, that heat will very much be appreciated around all livable areas.
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/19906/constant-lunar-sub-surface-temperature https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/19906/constant-lun...
- m4rtink 4y agoInteresting!l, havent ever thought about that! What is the heat conductivity though ? If it is low, you might have to sink too many heat transfer channels, not to mention with possibly ending up with a hot "bubble" that would no longer provide a temperature gradient.
- krasin 4y agoUnder the layer of regolith, Moon crust is mostly basalt ([1]), which has about 1.6 W/mK thermal conductivity ([2]). Not great, not terrible. We all know how cold it is to stand on a stone floor - unlike wood or plastics, it keeps sucking that heat off. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_structure_of_the_Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_structure_of_the_Moon 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_thermal_conductivities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_thermal_conductivities
- sanp 4y agoNice Chernobyl reference!
- iancmceachern 4y agoYour forgetting about radiation. You don't need to conduct it all away, there are 3 modes of heat transfer, conduction, convection and radiation. In this case it's the radiation they'd rely on.
- deepsun 4y agoSunlit surface of the Moon can reach 127 C. Don't know what type of reactor they choose, but it obviously won't work for boiling type of reactors. UPDATE: I forgot about not-water coolants. Molten salt or liquid metal reactors can work at 500 C, so would radiate anyway, right.
- iancmceachern 4y agoRadiation doesn't need a temperature gradient anyway
- FridayoLeary 4y agoI don't know if that will cool the reactor enough to prevent a meltdown.
- krasin 4y agoCooling a gigawatt-class reactor like that? - not a chance A 10kW reactor - easily; a very limited amount of engineering to design a heat distribution system will be required, but 10kW is also not enough for anything useful. I suppose the future of Moon energy will be in megawatt-class reactors, which are still possible to cool like that, but provide enough heat+energy to be useful for colonies.