White House Launches Plan for a Nuclear Power System on the Moon – By Brandi Vincent (Nextgov) / Dec 17 2020
It follows other space-centered proposals from the Trump administration—and might not be the last.
The White House released a directive Wednesday posing high-level policy goals and explicit directions for multiple federal agencies to drive the development of space-based nuclear systems and technologies.
Space Policy Directive 6, titled the “National Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion” and deemed SPD-6 for short, sets a strategic roadmap for several ambitious aims—including to demonstrate a fission power system on the surface of the moon by the mid- to late- 2020s. Those systems operate by splitting uranium atoms inside nuclear reactors, to generate heat that’s converted to electricity.
In journeys into space environments too harsh for more common power sources—or so deep that it’s too dark for solar power or too far to bring much fuel—space nuclear systems can offer a useful means to power spacecraft. They include radioisotope power systems and nuclear reactors for power generation and propulsion.
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