NASA will accelerate its steps to install a nuclear reactor on the moon at the end of the decade, the space agency confirmed on Tuesday, in the middle of a space for the United States and its Russian and Chinese rivals. “It is imperative that the agency acts quickly,” he insists on NASA’s interim administrator, Sean Duffy, in a directive transmitted by various US media, of which Political.
Announced under Donald Trump’s first mandate, this program foresees the sending of new US astronauts to the moon, now for “mid -2017”, then the establishment of its long -term presence in the star, more than 50 years after the last mission of the Apollo.
What feeds on 75 American homes?
For this, NASA has been studying for years the possibility of installing a small nuclear reactor on the moon, and in the future on Mars, to allow the production of energy necessary for such human presence. Unlike solar energy systems, a nuclear device could be installed in areas perpetually in the shadow, especially near the South Pole, where the United States and its rivals concentrate their efforts and produce continuous energy, even during lunar nights, which last several terrestrial weeks.
NASA is now presenting such a reactor by 2030. The call of tenders, which will be published soon, will be related to a device capable of producing at least 100 kwatts of electricity, enough to feed the 75 US homes. This announcement occurs while the world career for space, especially between the United States and China, is in full swing, after having announced that he wanted to send men to the moon by 2030.
From his return to power, Donald Trump, however, has been fluctuating about his number 1 priority in terms of space exploration. Criticism of the Lunar Artémis program, very expensive and having suffered many delays, the Republican has suggested in recent months that the moon could ignore to go to Mars. A objective surely influenced by his close advisor at that time, billionaire Elon Musk, who has the red planet in obsession. But his dispute in June, as well as geopolitical pressures, could play in favor of NASA’s lunar projects, as this announcement suggests.
Source: BFM TV
