4/25/2023 0 Comments A nuclear paradigm shift![]() And the radiation environment is not from the reactor so much, but the radiation of space itself," Casani told in an interview during February's Space Technology & Applications International Forum (STAIF), held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Space, you've got to reject heat through radiators. ![]() "Running a reactor.you reject heat to the ocean and that's an infinite heat sink. ![]() For one, the space reactor has to be smaller and more compact than on submarines. Sailing Earth's ocean or plying through the ocean of space under nuclear power - there's a difference, Casani explained. They have staffed up vigorously," said John Casani, Prometheus project manager at JPL. The dual-agency Prometheus partnership also involves Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, as well as Bettis Laboratory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and other supporting Department of Energy national laboratories. nuclear-powered warships are welcomed in more than 150 ports of call in over 50 foreign countries and dependencies. Because of their demonstrated reliability, the organization salutes the fact that U.S. They currently operate over 100 reactors and have accrued more than 5,500 reactor-years of operations. Naval Reactors declares that over 130 million miles have been safely steamed on nuclear power. The Naval Reactors organization brings to the table an unabashed track record spanning 50-plus years of expertise in developing powerful, safe, rugged, reliable, compact and long-lived reactor systems for use in unforgiving environments. Naval Reactors provides nuclear propulsion plants for the Navy's fleet of aircraft carriers, as well as attack and strategic submarines. They are no newcomers to nuclear power plants. Department of Energy's Office of Naval Reactors in Washington, D.C. ![]() Under an agreement signed last August, the reactor for Prometheus is being developed for NASA by the U.S. Move up to today: "Proponents note that space reactors hold the promise of dramatic enhancements in the scope, lifetime and effectiveness of space exploration activities," Aftergood said. Start-stop work has dead-ended ambitious programs every decade or so, Aftergood said, noting the SP-100 program - a NASA, Department of Defense, Department of Energy initiative - that was killed ten years ago after some $400 million had been doled out. "If one stood on top of a pile of all the studies of space nuclear power that have been performed over the past 20 years, one would be several feet closer to Mars.at least during some hours of the day," explained Steven Aftergood, head of the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C.Īftergood noted in a recent newsletter that, as a technology enterprise, space nuclear reactors have been "subject to a remarkable cycle of boom and bust over the past 50 years." That's another way of saying that harnessing nuclear power for space voyaging has long been an elusive task. What's the mission and science for Prometheus? "Information coming soon", the web site advises. But a visit to JPL's web site on the work mirrors the still-to-be-determined nature of the high-profile endeavor. The Prometheus Project is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Prometheus planet hopping is part of this "new age of exploration" that's being promised. In this regard, space nuclear fission reactor systems could reset the way the reconnaissance of our solar system has been done over the decades. The NASA Exploration Initiative is a multi-mission, multi-decade, human and robotic effort to explore the Moon, Mars and beyond using a spiral development process to introduce important new technologies as they mature.
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