The moon is often seen as the gateway to Mars and is home to large deposits of valuable resources essential to modern technology. However, humans have not been to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
That’s why the NASA-led Artemis program hopes to build an outpost on the moon by around 2030. But with bone-chilling temperatures reaching minus 248 degrees Celsius in certain areas of the moon, building bases on the moon requires a reliable source of energy. C. Recently, scientists at the University of Bangor in the UK developed a nuclear fuel cell the size of a poppy seed to produce the energy needed to sustain life. BBC report.
Bangor’s team worked in partnership with companies such as Rolls-Royce, the British Space Agency, NASA and Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States.
University researchers sent a miniature nuclear fuel cell known as Trisofuel to a partner for testing. Triso fuel could potentially be used to power a micro-nuclear generator developed by Rolls-Royce. It will undergo rigorous testing that simulates the stresses of space travel, and will be ready for deployment to a lunar base by 2030.
It’s worth noting that the generator is a portable device sized to fit in a small car or pocket.
Professor Simon Middleberg, Professor of Nuclear Materials and Co-Director of the Institute for Nuclear Futures, Bangor University said in a statement“This project will leverage the expertise in nuclear fuels that resides within the Nuclear Futures Institute and apply it to one of the most exciting applications possible: space exploration.”
“On moons and planets with day and night, we can no longer rely on the sun for energy, and we will have to design systems such as small microreactors to sustain life.
“Nuclear power is currently the only way we can provide the power needed for space travel of this length. It has to be something.”
Recently, India made a historic landing near the moon’s south pole with the Chandrayaan-3 mission. The Vikram lander made a soft landing on the moon on August 23 at 6:04 pm IST. With this lunar exploration, India became the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon, after the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union.