NASA is hard at work planning a long-term lunar outpost, and the agency now has a potential solution to the energy question: miniature nuclear power systems. This week, NASA announced that it's planning to build prototypes and simulators that will be ready for testing in 2012 or 2013. As a lunar settlement draws closer to reality--NASA's Constellation Program includes returning to the moon by 2020--is busy thinking through the practical details--like how to keep the generators running and the lights on.
During the day, solar power is one obvious solution. But lunar nights can last up to 334 hours in some places, and even at the moon's south pole, the sun never rises high. A fission surface power system would be able to produce power steadily even in harsh environments such as the Moon, or even Mars, without relying on sunlight [World Nuclear News].
The lunar nuclear system would operate ...
