U.S. space agency NASA said that it had scheduled a major media event to discuss “demonstration of new space exploration power system,” in what is known as the Kilopower project, which involves the use of a fission power source for deep space and planet exploration.
The agency envisions either a work station of some kind on the Moon, as well as future manned and unmanned probes, destination Mars.
“Kilopower could provide safe, efficient and plentiful energy for future robotic and human space explorations to the Moon, Mars and destinations beyond,” the agency has proclaimed on its website.
As such, the agency has been conducting experiments on a fission-based power system at the Nevada National Security Site. Experiments have been conducted from November 2017 through March 2018.
The Kilopower system is expected to provide up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power, which would run, essentially, two average households with the potential to provide power for 10 years. As little as four “kilopower units,” said the agency, would be enough to power an outpost.
The media event, scheduled for the morning of May 2, will be streamed live on the agency's website. It is scheduled to include James Reuter, acting associate administrator of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, Janet Kavandi, director of the Glenn Center, Patrick Cahalane, principle deputy associate administrator for Safety, Infrastructure and Operations at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Mark Gibson, Kilopower lead engineer at Glenn. Also scheduled to attend is David Poston, chief reactor designer at NNSA's Los Almos National Laboratory.
The prototype Kilopower system was designed by the Glenn Research Center, the Marshall Space Flight Center and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The reactor core was developed by the Y12 National Security Complex.