Tag: Nuclear

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NASA pivots to moon base and nuclear Mars mission

Illustration: Space Reactor-1 approaching Mars
An artist's conception shows Space Reactor-1 Freedom approaching Mars. (NASA via YouTube)

NASA’s leaders today laid out an ambitious multibillion-dollar space exploration plan that calls for building a moon base over the next decade and launching a nuclear-powered probe to Mars by 2028.

The space agency is also pressing the pause button on its multibillion-dollar plan to create a moon-orbiting outpost known as the lunar Gateway, and on its plan for transitioning from the International Space Station to commercial outposts in low Earth orbit.

Instead, NASA says it aims to work with commercial partners to procure a government-owned Core Module for the ISS. That module would serve as the attachment point for commercial space modules that could eventually detach to become free-flying space stations.

Meanwhile, the Power and Propulsion Element that was designed for the Gateway would be repurposed for the Mars probe known as Space Reactor-1 Freedom. SR-1 Freedom would be powered by a nuclear electric propulsion system and drop off a payload capable of deploying three helicopters in the Martian atmosphere. Such a mission, known as Skyfall, builds on the success of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter on Mars and parallels a concept proposed last year by AeroVironment.

NASA is aiming to launch SR-1 Freedom, land astronauts on the lunar surface with its Artemis 4 mission and start laying the groundwork for a moon base with Artemis 5 by the end of 2028, when President Donald Trump’s term in office comes to a close.

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Fiction Science Club

Why NASA is going nuclear for a power play on the moon

Illustration: Nuclear power plant with a tower-type radiator
An artist's conception shows a nuclear power plant on the moon. (Lockheed Martin Illustration)

Almost 60 years after America won the first space race, the moon is once again the focus of a competition between superpowers: Who’ll be the first to put a nuclear-powered base on the lunar surface?

And just as President John F. Kennedy set a goal of landing astronauts on the moon and bringing them back safely “before the decade is out,” NASA and the Department of Energy have set another end-of-decade deadline for developing a nuclear reactor for use on the moon. The current plan calls for demonstrating a 40-kilowatt power plant by 2030.

Why 2030? Roger Myers, an aerospace consultant who has been in the business of developing in-space power and propulsion systems for decades at NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne, says the timing is tied to China’s ambition to set up its own moon base by 2035.

“China has announced many times in the last few years that they plan to land their astronauts, their taikonauts, on the surface of the moon by 2030, and they want to have a sustained presence on the surface of the moon by 2035,” he says in the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast. “The United States has a decision to make: Do we want every human on the planet to look up every night and see just a Chinese flag? Or do we want them to see a Chinese and an American flag?”

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GeekWire

Inside Zeno Power’s ‘test kitchen’ for nuclear batteries

Zeno Power executives standing in front of a mural in Seattle offices
The reception area for Zeno Power’s lab features a Seattle-centric mural by Tam Riley. From left: Zeno CEO Tyler Bernstein, chief operating officer Jonathan Segal, chief product officer Lindsey Boles and chief commercialization officer Harsh S. Desai. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

Researchers are fine-tuning a recipe at Zeno Power’s office-lab complex in Seattle’s South Lake Union district — but it’s not the kind of recipe you can taste-test. Instead, this recipe specifies the ingredients for a new kind of nuclear battery, and Zeno is hoping it’ll get a glowing review.

“Our vision for Zeno is to be building dozens, and eventually hundreds of these power systems every year,” Zeno CEO and co-founder Tyler Bernstein told me during a recent tour of the 15,000-square-foot facility. “So, we want to make sure that from the early days, as we’re developing the process for how we build these heat sources, we’re doing it in a way that we can scale very quickly to meet the demand that we’re seeing from government and commercial customers.”

Zeno Power plans to demonstrate its first full-scale radioisotope power system in 2026, and deliver its first commercially built nuclear batteries by 2027. The potential applications range from powering infrastructure on the bottom of the ocean, to keeping machines operational in the Arctic, to charging up rovers on the moon.

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GeekWire

Zeno Power raises $50M to create nuclear batteries

Illustration: Lunar rover with nuclear battery
An artist’s conception shows a lunar rover powered by a nuclear battery. (Zeno Power Illustration)

Zeno Power, a startup that’s headquartered in Seattle as well as Washington, D.C., today announced the completion of a $50 million funding round to boost the development of nuclear batteries for maritime and space applications.

The Series B round was led by Hanaco Ventures, with participation from Seraphim, Balerion Space Ventures, JAWS, Vanderbilt University, RiverPark Ventures, Stage 1 Ventures, 7i Capital, Beyond Earth Ventures and others. The fresh funding follows a $20 million Series A round in 2022 and brings total investment to $70 million.

Zeno got its start at Vanderbilt in 2018 with the goal of creating new types of radioisotope power systems.

Radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs, have been around for decades — for example, for space missions ranging from the Apollo moonshots to the years-long treks of Mars rovers. Those power systems depended on plutonium-238, but Zeno is pioneering lightweight systems that use strontium-90 instead.

Strontium-90 is produced as a byproduct in nuclear fission reactors and could serve as an abundant fuel for power-generating systems. In 2023, Zeno worked with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to demonstrate a strontium-based heat source. The company is also looking at americium-241 as a potential fuel source for nuclear batteries.

Since its founding, Zeno has secured more than $60 million in contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA to provide radioisotope power systems for applications where traditional power sources fall short — for example, to provide long-lasting energy for seabed infrastructure, satellites and lunar landers.

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GeekWire

Ultra Safe Nuclear heads for bankruptcy and sale

Illustration: Cutaway view of USNC's MMR nuclear reactor design
An artist’s conception shows a cutaway view of a Micro Modular Reactor system. (USNC Illustration)

Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. says it has filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition as part of a court-supervised process that will lead to its purchase through a public auction.

The process also involves what’s known as a stalking-horse bid for USNC’s assets, amounting to $28 million from Standard Nuclear Inc. The purchase agreement with Standard Nuclear is meant to set a floor for the bidding.

The bankruptcy filing covers USNC as well as its subsidiaries, USNC-Tech, USNC-Power and Global First Power. USNC says it has asked the federal bankruptcy court in Delaware for approval to complete the transaction in December.

USNC’s primary projects focus on the development of microencapsulated nuclear fuel and advanced modular reactors that would be smaller and more efficient than traditional nuclear power plants. The company has also been working on radioisotope batteries and other nuclear technologies for NASA and the Pentagon. One of its projects, aimed at developing designs for space-based nuclear thermal propulsion systems, was set up in collaboration with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and other partners.

Debtor-in-possession financing will keep USNC running during the sale process, the company said.

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GeekWire

Zeno Power strikes a deal to recycle radioactive material

Aerial view of Oak Ridge National Laboratory
An aerial view shows the main campus of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. (ORNL Photo)

Zeno Power says it has gained access to radioactive material destined for its first full-scale radioisotope power systems under the terms of a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy.

The transfer of the material from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee benefits Zeno as well as the Department of Energy: Zeno — which has offices in Seattle and Washington, D.C. — gets the strontium-90 fuel that it needs for its next-generation RPS. At the same time, the DOE gets an opportunity to put a decades-old RPS to good use instead of putting it through a costly disposal process.

“This transfer highlights another unique approach our team has taken to accelerate environmental cleanup at Oak Ridge,” Jay Mullis, manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, said today in a news release. “This is a win-win scenario that’s removing a significant source of radioactivity at a savings to taxpayers, while also supporting nuclear innovation.”

Radioisotope power systems, also known as radioisotope thermoelectric generators or RTGs, have been used for decades to provide off-grid power for space missions and other applications. Such devices convert the heat generated by radioactive decay into electricity. Plutonium-238 is often used for space applications, but Zeno is working on a system that uses strontium-90 as an alternative heat source.

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GeekWire

Zeno and Westinghouse team up on nuclear batteries

Illustration: Cutaway view of Zeno Power's radioisotope power system
An artist’s conception shows a cutaway view of Zeno’s radioisotope power system. (Zeno Power Illustration)

Zeno Power says it has selected Westinghouse Electric Co. to process the radioisotopes for its heat sources — creating a partnership that adds a key puzzle piece to its plan for a new type of radioisotope power system, or RPS.

“Working with Westinghouse, we will build the nuclear hardware for our RPSs to provide reliable power in the most critical domains of the 21st century — from the depths of the oceans to the surface of the moon,” Zeno co-founder and CEO Tyler Bernstein said today in a news release.

Radioisotope power systems that convert heat into electricity for off-grid power have been used for decades — for example, for space missions ranging from the Apollo moonshots to the Curiosity rover mission to Mars and the New Horizons mission to Pluto. Those systems have typically used plutonium-238, but Zeno is working on systems that make use of other radioisotopes such as strontium-90.

Strontium-90, which is created as a byproduct in nuclear fission reactors, can be an abundant fuel for power-generating systems. Existing strontium-based power systems tend to be bulky, however. Zeno’s design could generate more power with less bulk, opening the way for a wider range of applications.

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GeekWire

Zeno wins $7.5M contract for underwater nuclear power

Illustration: Radioisotope power system on seafloor
An artist’s conception shows Zeno’s radioisotope power system on the seafloor. (Zeno Power Illustration)

Zeno Power says it’s been awarded a $7.5 million contract from the Department of Defense to build and demonstrate a radioisotope power system that can provide distributed power on the seabed.

The program, funded through the Pentagon’s Operational Energy Innovation Office and the Office of Naval Research, calls for the demonstration to take place by 2025.

Zeno maintains offices in Seattle as well as Washington, D.C., and one of its partners in the program is Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, which is headquartered in Kent, Wash.

The objective of the program — known as Distributed Energy Provided Throughout the Seas, or DEPTHS — is to develop decentralized nodes for energy generation and distribution on the seabed. Such a system could open the way for long-endurance seafloor sensor systems and charging stations for autonomous undersea vehicles.

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GeekWire

Zeno Power tests a new type of nuclear heat source

PNNL team removes heat source from transfer port
Team members at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory remove Zeno Power's heat source from a transfer port. (Zeno Power Photo)

Zeno Power says it has successfully completed its first demonstration of a new type of radioisotope heat source that could be used to generate off-grid power in settings ranging from the bottom of the ocean to the surface of the moon.

The demonstration — performed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. — took advantage of the energy provided by the radioactive decay of strontium-90. Zeno said its tests confirmed that the company’s technology can increase the specific power of its heat source compared with previously available strontium-90 heat sources.

Zeno uses radioisotope heat sources as the building blocks for its power-generating systems, which are designed to convert constant thermal energy into electricity. Strontium-90, which is typically created as a byproduct of nuclear fission, is an abundant fuel for such systems — but existing strontium-based power systems tend to be bulky. Zeno’s design could generate more power with less bulk, opening the way for a wider range of applications.

The work at PNNL involved radioactive and non-radioactive activities, including chemical processing and fuel fabrication, materials handling and heat source characterization. The test data will support further development of heat sources.

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GeekWire

DARPA and NASA pick Lockheed Martin for nuclear rocket

Illustration: DRACO nuclear-powered spacecraft
An artist’s conception shows Lockheed Martin’s nuclear-powered spacecraft. (Lockheed Martin Illustration)

NASA and the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have selected Lockheed Martin and BWX Technologies to move forward with development of a nuclear thermal rocket, or NTR, that could blaze a trail for future missions to the moon and Mars.

The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or DRACO, is slated for launch in 2027.

“The DRACO program aims to give the nation leap-ahead propulsion capability,” Tabitha Dodson, DARPA’s program manager for the effort, said today in a news release. “An NTR achieves high thrust similar to in-space chemical propulsion but is two to three times more efficient. With a successful demonstration, we could significantly advance humanity’s means for going faster and farther in space and pave the way for the future deployment for all fission-based nuclear space technologies.”

Dodson told reporters that NASA and DARPA will go 50-50 on the $499 million cost of the project. The two agencies have been working together on the rocket development effort since January.

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