RE:RE:RE:RE:Where are the results of the December 2021 drill program?While Alex was laughing at the thought that nuclear was never going to be in space, today we find the following......
Nuclear energy is going to the Moon…
Yes, the future of a presence on the Moon is getting real…
The big news is that NASA just awarded contracts to three companies to design nuclear fission power systems for the Moon. Those companies are Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse, and IX.
Lockheed Martin and Westinghouse are both large legacy incumbents. And each company plans to partner with a few others on its nuclear fission system design.
More exciting to me is IX. This company came about as a joint venture between Intuitive Machines and X Energy – two early stage companies. I suspect we’ll see the most innovative solution come out of this partnership. And bigger picture, this is a clear indication that NASA is finally getting serious about establishing a permanent presence on the lunar surface. That will require a stable and constant power source – and nuclear fission makes the most sense. Some will advocate for the use of solar energy in space instead. It’s just not practical. It would take literally tons and tons of solar panels to generate the power necessary for a permanent base. And getting massive payloads into orbit and down to the moon is no easy (or cheap) task. Nuclear fission is just a far more efficient solution. It would cost a fraction of the price, be deliverable in one spaceflight, and be far easier to install. And as a source of energy, nuclear fission would be more capable of base load power generation, the kind that is needed to fuel a base and support things like life support systems.