41–50 of 54 posts
The story reads like a movie and everybody seems to just believe it. It's interesting to watch something unfold that has absolutely no evidence and still people believe it's true based on trust alone.
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Summary of the linked Wikipedia entry: a nuclear heat source driving a Stirling Engine connected to a regular electric generator. A test reactor has been constructed, called KRUSTY or Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology. It is designed to produce up to 1 kilowatt of electric power and is about 6.5 feet tall (1.9 meters).[12] The goal of the KRUSTY experiment is to closely match the operational parameters that…
A quibble - in space applications, "nuclear heat source" makes me think a radioisotope thermal generator (i.e. a lump of an unstable isotope decaying naturally). That's what's used on the Curiosity and Mars 2020 rovers. Kilopower, on the other hand, is a for-real, critical-mass nuclear reactor.
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Summary of the linked Wikipedia entry: a nuclear heat source driving a Stirling Engine connected to a regular electric generator. A test reactor has been constructed, called KRUSTY or Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology. It is designed to produce up to 1 kilowatt of electric power and is about 6.5 feet tall (1.9 meters).[12] The goal of the KRUSTY experiment is to closely match the operational parameters that…
Also cool: uses passive heat pipes rather than coolant, further reducing the number of moving parts (making it that much more reliable).
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Maybe the Kilopower reactor [1] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilopower
As awesome as the Kilopower reactor is, this really isn't its intended use-case - it's supposed to provide low-output, very longterm power in spacecraft and rovers, where mass is limited, shielding unnecessary, and maintenance impossible. For mars colonization, a significantly larger purpose-built reactor would be much more feasible, and almost certainly a better solution than solar.
1. https://www.space.com/37348-nasa-fission-power-mars-colony.h...
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Also cool: uses passive heat pipes rather than coolant, further reducing the number of moving parts (making it that much more reliable).
I still wouldn't want that much U-235 in a critical configuration in my home. If something goes wrong, I'm not a superfund site, I'm the reason why someone started WW3/why my neighbourhood is no more.
“It’s like you have a loved one in a coma in the hospital, and you have the doctors telling you you just have to give it time and she’ll wake up,” says Callas. “But if it’s your 97-year-old grandmother, you’re going to be very concerned, and we are. By no means are we out of the woods.” This is just a sad analogy. Yes, let's compare the life of a robot to the one of a human being.
The life of a human being can be evaluated in terms of how many people they've interacted with, the influence they've had on those peoples' lives, and the lasting memories that people carry with them once that human has gone. It is quite possible to apply the same metrics to "a robot" (which is actually an entire science program at JPL), and see that this program has affected the lives of many more people than most h…
Put in to perspective, I'm not diminishing the work accomplished, I'm simply criticizing the comparison. Would you do such comparison if it was towards a person you know?
"Oh, your brother is in a coma? How sad, it's just like when Mar's rover went through that sand storm.. .don't worry it he will wake up any moment".
I'm intrigued by what research and plans have been made for how Martian colonists will deal with this sort of problem. I'm guessing solar won't be enough to keep a colony going. Wind power, even in a dust storm, wouldn't be possible because the air is so thin. Nuclear of some kind seems the only other option.
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I still wouldn't want that much U-235 in a critical configuration in my home. If something goes wrong, I'm not a superfund site, I'm the reason why someone started WW3/why my neighbourhood is no more.
Why would it explode? Don't you need high purity and high compression with perfect timing for that? Wouldn't it just get really hot in a reactor design?
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As awesome as the Kilopower reactor is, this really isn't its intended use-case - it's supposed to provide low-output, very longterm power in spacecraft and rovers, where mass is limited, shielding unnecessary, and maintenance impossible. For mars colonization, a significantly larger purpose-built reactor would be much more feasible, and almost certainly a better solution than solar.
This article[1] used as a reference in the Wikipedia entry certainly makes it sound like Mars colony is Kilopower's intended use-case. 1. https://www.space.com/37348-nasa-fission-power-mars-colony.h...
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Also cool: uses passive heat pipes rather than coolant, further reducing the number of moving parts (making it that much more reliable).
I still wouldn't want that much U-235 in a critical configuration in my home. If something goes wrong, I'm not a superfund site, I'm the reason why someone started WW3/why my neighbourhood is no more.