Russia and China plan to install a nuclear power plant on the Moon
Russia and China plan to install a nuclear power plant on the Moon
Russia and China are studying the possibility of installing a nuclear power plant on the Moon between 2033 and 2035.
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For what? Who's going to use that power?
The lunar night is 14 days long. During this time you don't get any sunlight for generating solar power. If you want a permanent base in the moon you need a continuous power source. Oh and also to power that mass driver they're going to use to threaten the entire world with destruction.
I think it should be coal
Permanent base? Are we already capable to build such things on the moon?
A lot of people believe we can, yes. However there are a few technologies that still need to be developed, such as a reliable power source that can work during a long lunar night
- solar won’t work, because night is too long
- RTGs can’t scale up enough to power a base
- Fission reactors as we have them so far generally rely on a liquid coolant and a lot of maintenance attention
- Even assuming we’ll be able to mine ice, it’s not something we can rely on to power a base, and we haven’t yet figured out how
So, if we can develop a small fission reactor that never needs any attention, can work in lower gravity, no atmosphere, huge range of temperatures , and doesn’t have anything that can leak, boil, or freeze, that would be perfect
My personal favourite is orbital solar. With no atmosphere, it should be doable. But of course it's just as hypothetical as all the other options at this point.
Then beam the energy to Luna? Or could we transfer batteries?
You beam down the energy using microwaves. On earth that's difficult because of the atmosphere. On the moon that doesn't apply, obviously.
How do we get all the materials and tools for the constructions up there to begin with? And how do we supply the base with Oxygen, food, water, etc?
Sure, there’s lots of questions needed to be answered
- transportation is in progress. Everyone must have heard about Artemis andStarShip: one or both are planned to get you there, plus I believe SpaceX has a contract for a lander
- maybe you heard the excitement over discovering ice. With sufficient power, the hope is they can make their own water, oxygen, rocket fuel
- there have been quite a few experiments in ISS with growing plants. Hopefully they can grow at least some of their own
Yeah we just haven’t done it yet. Just like you and I are capable of writing books, we just haven’t yet.
I can’t think of any tech we’re lacking to build massive space infrastructure honestly.
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