Space Business: Atoms for Space

Dear readers

Welcome to the Quartz newsletter about the economic opportunities of the Earth’s sphere. Please pass it on widely and let me know What do you think?

this week: Nuclear rocket repatriation, financing of Virgin’s orbit shake-up and banning of Chinese satellite companies.

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Nuclear technology is out of date: Climate change and geopolitics are forcing governments to extend the lives of old nuclear power plants and build new ones. Just last week, the US approved a small and modular nuclear power plant for electricity generation, only the seventh to date.

Not surprisingly, this is also reflected in space. Nukes have always been associated with the space program as boosters for high-altitude orbits and as simulators for long-duration missions. Deep space missions routinely rely on nuclear power, using the heat released by radioactive elements to generate electricity without atom-splitting chain reactions. NASA’s Perseverance rover, currently exploring the surface of Mars, is powered by one of these instruments.

But the dream of space fanatics is a proper nuclear rocket, using a fission reactor to power the engine, two to three times more powerful than any engine based on burning fossil fuels. Launched into space by a conventional rocket, it could shorten the trip to Mars or give the space force unprecedented mobility.. Last week, NASA and DARPA, the US military’s advanced technology laboratory, announced A collaborative project called DRACO to build and test exactly such a vehicle.

Harnessing that kind of power has a lot of promise, but it won’t be easy.

“There’s a fear that the DRACO program could be another announcement to do and then we’re going to be canceled or thrown in the trash bucket,” said Tabitha Dodson, DARPA program manager. control The project. These programs come around every 10 Or they tend to run on complex engineering challenges, starting with the NERVA project in the 1960s to develop a nuclear rocket that spanned fifteen years. No nuclear rocket has ever been launched.

Today’s engineers have some advantages, says Anthony Calomino, NASA’s DRACO program manager and the agency’s nuclear research chief. Advances in materials science, manufacturing techniques, and computer modeling make the job easier.

Making it more challenging, however, are the strict rules surrounding atomic testing. The United States has put a nuclear power plant into space just once through the SNAPSHOT Air Force program. Testing of reactor designs on the ground, including the intentional destruction of one, contributed to this It worksActive pollution Idaho National Laboratory. with Advanced knowledge About the dangers of nuclear activity, It does not have full power This time testing the reactor before going into space.

Instead, designers plan to rely on commercial technology. DARPA has hired General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin for the first phase of the project, and is expected to announce the company that will build and test the vehicle soon. The challenge of making the reactor as light as possible is a material science problem: Fission reactors use radioactive solid fuel – in this case High-acid low-enriched uranium– and a moderator, the fuel emits an element that slows down neutrons, making them more likely to collide with other fuel atoms. Required Chain reaction. To make the reactor as efficient as possible, these materials must withstand high temperatures. Once the reactor is running, it heats liquid hydrogen under high pressure, which becomes turn into Get out of the nose to gas and move the vehicle.

Safety is the main mind for the program, the leaders know the people very well Fear around radioactive. The good news is that fission reactors are relatively stationary until they are ignited. The bad news – “an event that pushes our safety requirements” by Calamino – is that if the reactor is immersed in a body of water after some start-up failure, it could start a fission reaction. It can spread dangerous radioactive substances. The solution is to have neutron absorbers, fondly called neutron poisons, ready to deploy in the event of a collapse and stop such a reaction. “In any case, we prevent the reactor from becoming critical,” Dodson says.

If something goes wrong while testing the reactor in OrbitIt is at least 1000 km away, but it can be much more – it is so far from the earth that there will be no immediate consequences. The last plan is to keep the vehicle in Orbit A test once a few hundred yearsing is complete. (The other US space reactor, SNAP-10A, is still in orbit though. It looks like a breakup.)

For now, the project is still on the drawing board with hopes of completing the design by 2025. The goal is to fly the vehicle by 2027—however, Like many of them Space technology Predictionsthat’s optimistic.. But Dodson said, “Once we show we can move a platform using nuclear power, someone will come along and facilitate that.”

In addition to deep space exploration And for space power “” chance to winThe tyranny of volumeThe vast space between the Earth and the Moon, where human activity is increasing – this project could have other benefits. Could provide new insight into building small, efficient power reactors on Earth or the Moon: NASA already has a pilot program The development of nuclear power Future lunar settlements.

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Image INTERLUDE

In the year In 1961, an anonymous NASA researcher presented a photo of a scale model of a nuclear-powered space shuttle with a slide rule in his hand – the nuclear power plant and engine are on the right side of the model, the crew will be on the left. side at a safe distance.

For the named article

See this other entry My effort He urged today’s NASA photographers to emulate the stunning portraits taken by astronauts and scientists in the 20th century.

SPACE DEBRIS

Honorable name. Ex Astronauts Bob Behnen and Doug Hurley have won a rare award Medal of Honor For test pilots for their work Dragon spacecraft of the SpaceX teamIt brought human spaceflight back to America after a nine-year hiatus and pioneered new forms of collaboration between the space agency and private companies.

The main controversy of the Virgin Orbit. Founder Richard Branson invested Another 10 million dollars to the satellite launch firm (NASDAQ: VORB ), but its cash burn rate, failed launches and increasingly tight terms indicate the company could face bankruptcy or takeover in the coming months.

US Sanctions Chinese SAR Company Spacey was a Chinese satellite company He was sanctioned. The U.S. government says it provided Ukrainian space radar images to the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization the U.S. has designated as a criminal organization. group. Spacety has it. Since the claim He gave no information to Wagner.

Axiom is building a business around government astronauts. Axiom, the space company that is developing its own space station to fly passengers to the International Space Station, has most of the demand for passenger services this week. It comes from governments Not tourists with deep pockets, without space programs of their own. The company’s second mission to the ISS is expected and expected at the end of this year To include two astronauts from Saudi Arabia.

SpaceX wins cargo contract. US Air Force a 102 million dollar deal Developing point-to-point cargo delivery systems on Earth with Elon Musk’s aerospace company. it is. It’s early days for the idea, which faces many logistical and operational challenges.

your friend,

Tim

This was issue 167 of our newsletter. Hope your week is out of this world! Please send your thoughts on Virgin Orbit’s financial fate, forgotten stories of nuclear space technology, tips and informed opinion. tim@qz.com.