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    NASA wants to put a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030 – choosing where is tricky
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    NASA wants to put a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030 – choosing where is tricky

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    26 Comments

    1. Gastroid on

      Mom said tomorrow it’s my turn to post about NASA admins wanting to put a nuclear reactor on the moon.

    3. literalsupport on

      Let’s stop taking these stories so seriously. Been doing that for decades.
      NASA won’t be putting a nuclear reactor on the moon.

    4. Worried-Scratch-5549 on

      What difference does it make? SpaceX will wind up scattering the goddamn thing all over the Gulf of Mexico

    5. LiquidDreamtime on

      Who at NASA does?

      I work at NASA. Sean Duffy’s announcement was the first any of us had heard of it as far as I know.

      Edit: I’ve been educated, thanks folks. It was mostly just a tongue in cheek comment about the interim unconfirmed NASA Administrator shooting from the hip.

    6. oboshoe on

      Nasa already out plutonium powered RTGs on the moon to power some of the experiments during the apollo era.

      some of those were sending data back well into the 1970s. powered by decaying plutonium.

    9. Thesorus on

      I know it’s all performative politics, but why ?

      I know they want to be there before the Chinese, but other than that ?

    10. sojuz151 on

      This requires nasa to get money. Then this money would need to be spend in a reasonable way. Both might be problematic. 

      Good thing is that depleted uranium is far cheaper, far far less toxic and almost not radioactive than plutonium that is used in RTG. 

    15. Spara-Extreme on

      2030 is 5 years away. Do we even have a heavy lift vehicle that’s sent an autonomous payload to the moon right now? I’d say the ‘tricky’ part isn’t where on the moon our fantasy project would be but rather, how the shell of NASA can get anything there bigger then a paper clip.

    16. elciano1 on

      We can’t even build a bridge that doesn’t fall but we want to build something on the moon?

    17. mainstreetmark on

      I’ve played a lot of Factorio Space Age, and speaking as somewhat of an expert, I’d bootstrap with solar before shipping a nuclear reactor there.

    18. hawkwings on

      If it was up to me, I would go with a mare near the equator where the Earth is about 30° above the horizon. Many people are excited about the South Pole, but that strikes me as a terrible place for tourism and creates a possible conflict with China. In the modern world, the purpose of human space travel is not exploration. Robots can do that.

    20. PlanZSmiles on

      Wouldn’t it be smart to put it on the dark side of the moon to reduce heat which will help with the total efficiency of power generation? Is there something that I might be missing here besides the inherit risk of putting humans on that side for building and maintenance?

    21. glytxh on

      Well they’re gonna have to make do with the second best spot cos China’s gonna get to the South Pole first, and even with the international agreements in place, they’ll have every right to cordon off 100 miles from their site.

      And it’s not like anybody’s gonna fight them for it.

    22. PercentageSoggy1583 on

      Can we start with updating and upgrading our current nuclear facilities, and maybe find ways to add new ones to get carbon neutral energy that isn’t dependent on circumstances around the world? Asking for a friend.

    23. RogLatimer118 on

      And then maybe a decade later, they’ll actually be able to land men on the moon to service it, assuming they can get by the Chinese astronauts.

    24. TachiH on

      RTGs are safe and reliable power sources. I wouldnt fancy an actual reactor somewhere that we will actually want to study.

      Is there even a justification for not just using traditional solar and RTG? What are the hoping to power using it?

    26. Human-Assumption-524 on

      I’m all for nuclear power and lunar settlement but what benefit does a nuclear reactor on the moon provide that solar panels and batteries wouldn’t provide better? Like the only time I see a nuclear reactor on the moon making sense is once we already have a permanent settlement there and are trying to build large scale industry there like metal refineries and ship yards.