Nuclear energy, NASA’s premise to send astronauts to Mars

Dec. 17 () –

A recently published white paper highlights NASA’s decision to use fission energy as main source of energy on the Martian surface to sustain crews.

In one updating your roadmap for long-term lunar exploration within the framework of the Artemis campaign in preparation for future manned missions to Mars, the space agency says that the use of fission energy – that used in nuclear power plants on Earth – is “the first of seven key decisions necessary for human exploration of Mars.”

Fission energy is a form of nuclear energy that is not affected by day-night cycles or potential dust storms on Mars, NASA argues in a statement.

The update also includes a larger, prioritized list of “key architectural decisions” that must be taken early in NASA’s plans to send humans to the Red Planet. Two new elements are now part of the agency’s Moon-to-Mars architecture: a lunar surface cargo lander and an initial lunar surface habitat.

The lunar surface cargo lander will deliver logistics items, science and technology payloads, communications systems and more. The initial surface habitat will house astronauts on the lunar surface to expand the crew size, scope and duration of exploration missions and allow manned and unmanned scientific opportunities.

The most recent revision of the Architecture Definition Document adds more information about NASA’s decision mapping process (how the agency decides which decisions should be made early in the planning process based on the impacts on later decisions) and a list of architecture-driven opportunities that help technology. Development organizations prioritize research into new technologies that allow the development of human exploration plans for the Moon and its extension to Mars, the statement added.