NASA has signed three contracts worth $5 million to develop nuclear reactors to supply near and far space bases with electricity and heat.
The competition program is designed for 12 months, after which the best project will move into the prototype phase. Based on a promising reactor, they can also create a nuclear propulsion system for flights both in near space and in far space.
The NASA competition provides for creating a 40 kW power plant for operation in the conditions of the Moon for ten years. This “will lay the foundation for powering a long-term human presence on other planets.”
The contracts were awarded through the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory, which is already supporting several advanced nuclear reactor projects.
Lockheed Martin will develop competitive designs in collaboration with BWXT and Creare; Westinghouse in partnership with Aerojet Rocketdyne; and IX with Maxar and Boeing.
All these companies, one way or another, are developing advanced nuclear reactors and are connected with space.
Nuclear reactors for space purposes – engines and for supplying energy to future space bases – are also being developed in the EU, China and Russia.
Russia is proposing a similar reactor (Project Zeus) for missiles and supplying bases, while China has swung at once on a reactor 100 times superior to the future US one.