NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
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Re: NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
#2It's about time. Engineering decisions shouldn't be made based of irrational fears of general population. If nuclear power plant is best option for space mission we should use it.
Re: NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
#3Are there fissionable materials on Mars?
Re: NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
#4Anyone know what the projected cost of transport, setup, shielding and maintenance etc. is?
Re: NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
#5Are there fissionable materials on Mars?
Sure there is uranium on Mars. But extracting and refining it won't be easy.
Re: NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
#6It's about time. Engineering decisions shouldn't be made based of irrational fears of general population. If nuclear power plant is best option for space mission we should use it.
I agree. Though we might disagree on where legitimate concerns end and irrational fears start. It is also non-trivial to decide (and argue around) what a 'best option' is without defining a scale of what 'good' and 'bad' would be, and what factors are considered in that scale, and which ones are left out.
Re: NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
#7Re: NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
#8The last time I heard about humanity settling on Mars on behalf of an Aerospace Corporation, it was about opening a gate to hell.
Re: NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
#9It's about time. Engineering decisions shouldn't be made based of irrational fears of general population. If nuclear power plant is best option for space mission we should use it.
I don't thinnk it was the fear of the general population, because what influence do we have on dangerous endeavors?
If the scientist can do it safely, they could just do it.
It must have something to with the state of technology and not being able to do it safe until now.
Re: NASA Revives Plan to Put Nuclear Reactors on Mars
#10It's about time. Engineering decisions shouldn't be made based of irrational fears of general population. If nuclear power plant is best option for space mission we should use it.
I agree with your sentiment but let's face it, sending humans to Mars is as much PR as it is scientific research (maybe even more). Look how we ended up on the moon in the first place. If NASA wants to get the funding it has to make it as marketable as possible.
If there's a big push back from the general population it will be hard to convince the politicians to invest billions in an unpopular project with no short-term dividends.