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posted by janrinok on Thursday May 03 2018, @12:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the can-it-recharge-my-'phone? dept.

NASA's Kilopower nuclear reactor with Stirling converters (not an RTG) has passed key tests:

The Kilopower team conducted the experiment in four phases. The first two phases, conducted without power, confirmed that each component of the system behaved as expected. During the third phase, the team increased power to heat the core incrementally before moving on to the final phase. The experiment culminated with a 28-hour, full-power test that simulated a mission, including reactor startup, ramp to full power, steady operation and shutdown.

Throughout the experiment, the team simulated power reduction, failed engines and failed heat pipes, showing that the system could continue to operate and successfully handle multiple failures.

"We put the system through its paces," said Gibson. "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."

The Kilopower project is developing mission concepts and performing additional risk reduction activities to prepare for a possible future flight demonstration. The project will remain a part of the STMD's Game Changing Development program with the goal of transitioning to the Technology Demonstration Mission program in Fiscal Year 2020.

The full system will generate 10 kW of power, but the prototype tested from November to March was designed to produce just 1 kW. The solid uranium-235 core is safe to handle.

The Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) prototype exceeded almost all performance metrics.

Multiple units could power missions on the Moon, Mars, or other destinations:

"Kilopower's compact size and robustness allows us to deliver multiple units on a single lander to the surface that provides tens of kilowatts of power," NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk said in January.

Also at Beyond Nerva. 3m8s video.

Previously: NASA's Kilopower Project Testing a Nuclear Stirling Engine
Initial Tests of NASA's Kilopower Nuclear System Successful


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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:42PM (2 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:42PM (#675171) Journal

    I think this doesn't produce enough power for submarines. Perhaps submarine drones, though...

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  • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday May 04 2018, @01:15PM (1 child)

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Friday May 04 2018, @01:15PM (#675630)

    I think submarine drones dont work unless they are fully autonomous. You can't get enough penetration depth with any conventional comms.

    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday May 04 2018, @04:56PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 04 2018, @04:56PM (#675733) Journal

      Well, you don't need full autonomy, but you need it to be pretty autonomous, as the communications channels that work have a low bit rate. Even if they didn't, you wouldn't want to automatically reveal your position. So say as autonomous as a Tesla autopilot, or maybe a bit more (and a bit less in other ways: you don't need to worry about pedestrians). IOW, doable, but not easy, and not cheap.

      Still, there are missions for which such devices would be ideal, such as a dynamic sensor net. These would be too expensive to really be considered expendable in normal use, but could be used as highly targeted weapons if need be, where the dispatcher is at an unknowable location. (Well, somewhere within a few hundred miles.)

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