The lunar exosphere is too skimpy to trap or spread the Sun’s energy, so differences between sunlit and shadowed areas on the Moon are extreme. Temperatures near the Moon’s equator can spike to 250°F (121°C) in daylight, then plummet after nightfall to -208°F (-133°C).
The big problem with space is overheating. Space may be cold but there is no way to get rid of that heat except for radiators. Convection doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
That was my first thought, but then my second thought was even more terrifying - how do you protect your nuclear power facility from celestial impacts? The moon must get pelted with thousands of little bits of space debris every day considering it has no atmosphere. All it would take is a basketball-sized meteorite to slam into the reactor chamber and possibly cause a meltdown.
Go Thorium MSR and bury it underground and you don’t really have to worry about it. Might need some modification for moon gravity but otherwise seems like the best bet.
Heat also dissipates via radiation, not just conduction. I would imagine that nuclear power on the moon won’t involve hauling a lot of liquid coolant/heat exchanger/energy transfer because liquids are wicked heavy, hauling that up to orbit and then landing it is gonna take a lot of energy. They do acknowledge that cooling is an issue they’re working on.
Maybe some kind of RTG? I couldn’t find an article that said what the NASA contractors chose to build.
No, RTGs just don’t generate the kind of power you’d need. I mean, they’re awesome for generating electricity for a long time, but just not a lot of it. No, these are fission plants.
How do you cool a nuclear reactor on the moon?
It’s already pretty cold
Only at night.
https://science.nasa.gov/moon/weather-on-the-moon/
Which sounds like a pretty big challenge for a nuclear reactor. Maybe they only plan to put them on the poles?
The big problem with space is overheating. Space may be cold but there is no way to get rid of that heat except for radiators. Convection doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
The ground would probably work fine as a heat sink.
That was my first thought, but then my second thought was even more terrifying - how do you protect your nuclear power facility from celestial impacts? The moon must get pelted with thousands of little bits of space debris every day considering it has no atmosphere. All it would take is a basketball-sized meteorite to slam into the reactor chamber and possibly cause a meltdown.
Cover it with a ton of moon soil
We’ll take a second moon, cut it in half, and use it as a shield for the first moon
Go Thorium MSR and bury it underground and you don’t really have to worry about it. Might need some modification for moon gravity but otherwise seems like the best bet.
https://www.thmsr.com/overview/
That’s a challenge that people are working on for sure. Likely some kind of radiant cooling, but it’s a lot of heat.
Heat also dissipates via radiation, not just conduction. I would imagine that nuclear power on the moon won’t involve hauling a lot of liquid coolant/heat exchanger/energy transfer because liquids are wicked heavy, hauling that up to orbit and then landing it is gonna take a lot of energy. They do acknowledge that cooling is an issue they’re working on.
Maybe some kind of RTG? I couldn’t find an article that said what the NASA contractors chose to build.
No, RTGs just don’t generate the kind of power you’d need. I mean, they’re awesome for generating electricity for a long time, but just not a lot of it. No, these are fission plants.