21–30 of 129 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I often wondered, how do you deal with all the waste heat from a fission power reactor, in a vacuum? Giant radiators? edit: fixed typo, derp. fusion=fission
It would likely be a thermal reactor, I guess? So no waste heat, since the little heat it gives is used to generate electricity.
The international moon base plan is fascinating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lunar_Research_S... (nuclear power plans by Russia not so much) Is there enough gravity on the moon to prevent the long-term health problems from the space station like bone, muscle and vision loss?
> Is there enough gravity on the moon to prevent the long-term health problems from the space station like bone, muscle and vision loss? Nobody knows. You might think scientist can science up answers to any question but it is impossible to know this without long term data which is simply not available. There were some experiments done in parabolic flights [2] but those only last for a very short time. There is this l…
What are they expecting to be different about samples from the moon's far side to those previously collected?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason you seek to explore what you don't know is because you don't know what you don't know. In general I don't think people really appreciate how ridiculously little we know about everything outside of our planet. Like for instance it was only in 2013 (!!!) that it was discovered that Mars' soil is relatively 'moist', about 2% water by mass. And that's just the topsoil layer - it's suggestive that below the sur…
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Earlier quoted context omitted.
> nuclear power plans by Russia not so much Why? Any lunar base without nuclear power plans is not a serious effort.
Solar PV linked to battery storage is the obvious energy source for a moonbase. All reactors require coolant circulation and water is going to be among the most valuable commodities on the moon, not something you want to circulate through a reactor (where you inevitably get tritium formation, making the water unsuitable for other uses). Maybe you could use helium or liquid sodium metal as the primary coolant, but the…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason you seek to explore what you don't know is because you don't know what you don't know. In general I don't think people really appreciate how ridiculously little we know about everything outside of our planet. Like for instance it was only in 2013 (!!!) that it was discovered that Mars' soil is relatively 'moist', about 2% water by mass. And that's just the topsoil layer - it's suggestive that below the sur…
[flagged]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> nuclear power plans by Russia not so much Why? Any lunar base without nuclear power plans is not a serious effort.
Solar PV linked to battery storage is the obvious energy source for a moonbase. All reactors require coolant circulation and water is going to be among the most valuable commodities on the moon, not something you want to circulate through a reactor (where you inevitably get tritium formation, making the water unsuitable for other uses). Maybe you could use helium or liquid sodium metal as the primary coolant, but the…
It's not serious with chemical propulsion and the Moon's day/night cycle. Put another way, if one team uses nukes and is, as a result, power unconstrained, while the other spends all its energy launching solar panels and batteries to keep life support online, it's obvious who's going to be doing any science.
> All reactors require coolant circulation and water is going to be among the most valuable commodities on the moon
Sodium and sterling, no water [1]. There is a reason even NASA is only seriously considering nuclear power [2].
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/tech-demo-missions-pr...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> nuclear power plans by Russia not so much Why? Any lunar base without nuclear power plans is not a serious effort.
I often wondered, how do you deal with all the waste heat from a fission power reactor, in a vacuum? Giant radiators? edit: fixed typo, derp. fusion=fission
Yup, that's the thing on top [1].
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> nuclear power plans by Russia not so much Why? Any lunar base without nuclear power plans is not a serious effort.
I often wondered, how do you deal with all the waste heat from a fission power reactor, in a vacuum? Giant radiators? edit: fixed typo, derp. fusion=fission
The international moon base plan is fascinating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lunar_Research_S... (nuclear power plans by Russia not so much) Is there enough gravity on the moon to prevent the long-term health problems from the space station like bone, muscle and vision loss?
> nuclear power plans by Russia not so much Why? Any lunar base without nuclear power plans is not a serious effort.