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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: Nuclear Power in Space
Exploration
and on Earth:
An Overview
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P.H.M.D. Campbell and
Associates, L.P.
When Apollo 11 touched down at Tranquility Base on July 20, 1969, the goal of a lunar landing envisioned by President John F.Kennedy in 1961was realized. The achievement of this goal depended on the development of technologies to turn this vision into reality. One technology that was critical to this achievement was the harnessing of nuclear power systems for spacecraft. Currently, nuclear power provides power for satellite systems and deep-space exploratory missions. In the future, nuclear power will provide propulsion for spacecraft and drive planet-based power systems.
The development of space-based nuclear
power technology has run parallel to an
evolving rationale regarding the need to explore our own solar
system and beyond. Since the time of the “space race” with
the Soviets, forward-looking analysis suggested that space
exploration
will one day exploit extraterrestrial natural resources.
These natural resources could enable further
exploration
and
provide new sources of materials that are subject to dwindling
supplies and increasing prices on Earth. Mining for increasingly
valuable commodities such as thorium and samarium is envisaged
on the Moon and on selected asteroids as a demonstration of
technology at scales never before imagined.
In addition, the discovery of helium-3 on the Moon may provide
an abundant power source for lunar facilities or for Earth
through the use of nuclear fusion technologies. However, that
resource will remain on the shelf until the technological
challenges
of fusion power are overcome. Some day, helium-3
may even be stockpiled on the Moon until it is needed. Clearly,
that nuclear power will provide the means necessary to realize
the more ambitious goals of space development.
Technological advances in other areas will provide enhanced
environmental safeguards in the use of nuclear power and
innovative
means to deliver space-derived materials to the Earth’s
surface such as a space elevator. These advances could include a
space ‘gravity tractor’ to nudge errant asteroids and other bodies
out of orbits that would collide with the Earth. Nuclear systems
will enable humankind to expand beyond
the boundaries of Earth, provide new
frontiers for
exploration
, protect the Earth,
and renew critical natural resources.
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