The Nuclear Reactor Renaissance: Space Exploration and National Security

[thackney]

The Nuclear Reactor Renaissance: Space Exploration and National Security
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2018/07/13/the_nuclear_reactor_renaissance_space_exploration_and_national_security_110313.html

...One of BWXT’s primary focuses is space exploration. The company is currently building a compact nuclear reactor for space shuttles to put an astronaut on Mars and possibly even explore Jupiter’s moons by 2024. This reactor will be operable with few to no people.

In August 2017, BWXT was awarded the contract for the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) project by NASA to build a nuclear reactor to power manned missions to Mars. According to NASA’s fact sheet on the program, “NTP offers virtually unlimited energy density and a specific impulse roughly double that of the high­est performing traditional chemical systems.”

The NTP reactor will be powered by low-enriched uranium (LEU) rather than the traditional highly enriched uranium. This change in fuel source is advantageous because it reduces the level of security regulations and could potentially be more affordable. NASA recognizes that nuclear power is the only fuel source capable of powering missions farther out into our Solar System, making such travel safer for astronauts by reducing the time humans are exposed to the physically altering conditions of space, such as zero-gravity and cosmic radiation.

Space exploration can go faster and farther than ever before with nuclear reactors. The UN’s Office for Outer Space Affairs has stated that “for some missions in outer space, nuclear power sources are particularly suited or even essential owing to their compactness, long life, and other attributes.” By using nuclear power, NASA can significantly reduce the time it takes to travel within and outside our Solar System. Mars can be reached in four months rather than six. Jupiter can be reached in two to three years, and we can go beyond the Solar System in 12–14 years.

Nuclear reactors will also enable us to better study and utilize the resources in our Solar System by reducing travel time and reaching higher velocities. In comparison to the main engine of the Space Shuttle, nuclear reactors have double the propulsion efficiency and can therefore support the delivery of “large, automated payloads to distant worlds.” Powering spacecraft using nuclear energy will enable shuttles to transport larger and heavier payloads between the Moon and Earth.

Nuclear power can also play a role in defending assets in outer space. In June, President Trump announced his plan to create a sixth wing of the military to protect our interests beyond Earth’s surface, called the “Space Force.” It is clear that the U.S. government is very serious about the need to secure our resources in space as key adversaries aim to do the same. Revolutions in nuclear reactors come at the optimal time as the great power competition evolves into space....