The recent experiment in Nevada, jointly conducted by NASA and the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), demonstrated the plant can generate electricity with fission power and showed it is stable and safe, no matter what environment it encounters.
The Kilopower project cost about $20 million dollars, and it generates energy through the use of uranium. The uranium creates heat energy that could be used to power a variety of different devices, from spacecraft to water filtration units.
The results of the Kilopower test were revealed during a conference held at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The researchers who worked on the project stated that the Kilopower prototype (called KRUSTY – Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology) exceeded all the expectations they had for it.
KRUSTY is a compact fission reactor that can generate between one and ten kilowatts of electricity continuously for 10 years or more. NASA began building the reactor to support deep space travel in 2015. The fission react is about 6.5 feet tall and uses a solid, cast uranium-235 reactor core about the size of a paper towel roll to generate heat that is converted into electricity by Stirling engines.
The reactor, Named as KRUSTY (for Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology). The testing was held from November 2017 through March. It recently passed extensive testing in the Nevada desert “with flying floors,” putting it one step closer to powering human outposts on the moon or Mars.
The Kilopower project cost about $20 million dollars, and it generates energy through the use of uranium. The uranium creates heat energy that could be used to power a variety of different devices, from spacecraft to water filtration units.
The results of the Kilopower test were revealed during a conference held at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The researchers who worked on the project stated that the Kilopower prototype (called KRUSTY – Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology) exceeded all the expectations they had for it.
KRUSTY is a compact fission reactor that can generate between one and ten kilowatts of electricity continuously for 10 years or more. NASA began building the reactor to support deep space travel in 2015. The fission react is about 6.5 feet tall and uses a solid, cast uranium-235 reactor core about the size of a paper towel roll to generate heat that is converted into electricity by Stirling engines.