NASA is going to build nuclear power plants on the Moon and has got contracts signed with three companies for the same. The companies that have won the bids for the nuclear power project are Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and IX.
NASA joined hands with the US Department of Energy (DOE) on developing advanced space nuclear technologies. Both have picked three design concept proposals for a fission surface power system design “that could be ready to launch by the end of the decade for a demonstration on the Moon.”
The US space agency announced in a website post: “Battelle Energy Alliance, the managing and operating contractor for Idaho National Laboratory, led the Request for Proposal development, evaluation, and procurement sponsored by NASA. Idaho National Laboratory will award 12-month contracts to the following companies to each develop preliminary designs:
Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Maryland – The company will partner with BWXT and Creare.
Westinghouse of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania – The company will partner with Aerojet Rocketdyne.
IX of Houston, Texas, a joint venture of Intuitive Machines and X-Energy – the company will partner with Maxar and Boeing.”
The three firms are tasked with providing concept designs for nuclear fission energy systems that will be put on the Moon. The firms, alongwith their partners, have to develop “initial design concepts” for a 40-kilowatt class fission power system planned to last at least 10 years on the Moon.
Each of the three companies will take home around $5 million for their contribution. With this contract, NASA is looking to find some future applications for propulsion systems of spacecraft designed to travel far and deep into space under its Artemis program.
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