Lockheed Martin was awarded $33.7 million from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for the Joint Emergent Technology Supplying On-Orbit Nuclear (JETSON) High Power program to mature high-power nuclear electric power and propulsion technologies and spacecraft design. The JETSON effort is now in the preliminary design review stage, with the option to go to critical design review level.
JETSON will use a fission reactor that generates heat, which is then transferred to Stirling engines to produce between 6 kWe and 20 kWe of electricity – four times the power of conventional solar arrays without the need to be in continuous sunlight. The reactor draws heavily from the design and lessons of the 2018 Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) demonstration led by NASA and the DoE’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
The reactor does nothing until the the start-stop plug is placed into the rest of the uranium. There is no nuclear activity until that happens. Once the start-stop plug is in place then there is just enough nuclear material for the desired amount of electricity production. The heat becomes electricity via heat pipes and a stirling engine.
Kilopower reactor concepts uses heat pipes to transfer fission energy from a solid block of fuel and are intended for simple, low-power [1-to 10 -kW(electric)] space and surface power systems. KRUSTY was designed to be as prototypic as possible within the cost constraints of a 3-year, <$20 million program.
The Kilopower reactor concept is one of the simplest space power reactor concepts ever proposed. Perhaps the most important simplicity of the system is in neutron kinetics and system dynamics. The kinetics of a compact, fast reactor are dominated by one factor: changes in material density/geometry (changes in neutron interaction rates, i.e., cross sections, have small effects). The Kilopower solid core eliminates potential movements of fuel rods/pieces relative to others, and the surrounding geometry is fixed (except for small potential relative movements due to thermal expansion); thus, the only major reactivity effects are changes in neutron leakage.
Criticality safety calculations were performed to show that the fuel could not go critical under any credible scenario, except being surrounded by beryllium or another fissile material. This is not surprising because the Kilopower reactors are designed to remain subcritical during all launch accidents (immersed in water, sand, etc.), which is accomplished with a beryllium reflector of very high neutronic worth.
“A future JETSON flight experiment will enhance maneuver and power capabilities shaping future space force operations,” said Andy Phelps, CEO of SpaceNukes. “The United States has not flown a reactor in space since 1965. As the first novel reactor tested in more than 50 years, we’re giving our country a technical leap – both terrestrially and on-orbit – as well as the ability to expand future space exploration.”
Space Nuclear Power Corp (SpaceNukes) and BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) as our partners – both of whom carry deep expertise in nuclear power and reactor design – our JETSON team will address the escalating need for advanced spacecraft mobility, situational awareness, and power generation that far surpasses traditional spacecraft capabilities. Providing both on-board electrical power and the ability to power electric propulsion Hall thrusters used on Lockheed Martin’s LM2100 satellites, JETSON serves as a critical step forward in using nuclear electric propulsion to get humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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About time we got something like this reactor again. The outer solar system is very hard to explore without nuclear energy.
CheapER, not cheap.
We need nuclear power of some sort to explore the outer planets since solar power won’t work out there. A reactor would be the best choice. We should focus on mass production.