The reactor, called the Kilopower Reactor was tested at the NNSA’s Nevada National Security Site from November to March.
NASA has successfully tested a new nuclear reactor power system that could one day provide power to people living on Mars .
The reactor, called the Kilopower Reactor was tested at the NNSA’s Nevada National Security Site from November to March.
Jim Reuter, who worked on the project, said: “Safe, efficient and plentiful energy will be the key to future robotic and human exploration.
“I expect the Kilopower project to be an essential part of lunar and Mars power architectures as they evolve.”
Kilopower is a small, lightweight fission power system capable of providing up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power – enough to run several average households – continuously for at least 10 years.
NASA believes the reactor would be ideal for the moon , where power generation from sunlight is difficult because lunar nights are the equivalent of 14 days on Earth.
Marc Gibson, lead Kilopower engineer, said: “Kilopower gives us the ability to do much higher power missions, and to explore the shadowed craters of the Moon.
“When we start sending astronauts for long stays on the Moon and to other planets, that’s going to require a new class of power that we’ve never needed before.”
The recent test had two main aims – to show that the system can create electricity with fission power, and to show the system is stable and safe in any environment.
Mr Gibson added: “We put the system through its paces.
“We understand the reactor very well, and this test proved that the system works the way we designed it to work. No matter what environment we expose it to, the reactor performs very well.”
It is unclear when NASA plans to send the system into space.
