A presentation presented by Chinese government officials showed that Beijing plans to supply the international space station with energy from a mini-nuclear power plant.
At a presentation in Shanghai, Pei Zhao Yu, chief engineer of the Chinese robotic mission Chang'e-8, presented the appearance of the base that China is going to deploy on the Moon after 2030. Chang'e-8 is planned as an exploration mission: in 2028, it will launch a lander to the surface of the Earth's satellite, from which a lunar rover and a robot will exit (details about the latter are still scarce). Earlier it was claimed that during the mission they would conduct an experiment on construction using 3D printing. It was supposed to build the structures of the future base using a similar method.
Now the Reuters news agency has reported that the presentation materials indicate the Chinese intention to use a nuclear reactor at the lunar base. On the one hand, lunar conditions make mini-nuclear power plants in demand: a 14-day night is poorly compatible with solar energy. Although there are peaks on Selene where the Sun shines 95 percent of the time of the year, there are nights there too. More importantly, it is difficult to climb such steep slopes even on the Ground. Lunar conditions, due to the need to travel in space suits, are much less suitable for mountaineering.
On the other hand, the same specifics of the Moon will make it difficult for nuclear power plants to operate. Heat must be constantly removed from the latter. On Earth, it goes into the atmosphere, but there is none on the satellite. Radiator drainage is theoretically possible, but it is difficult on a lunar day (radiators heat up the sun's rays). In addition, such radiators are large in area and weight. They need to be somehow buried in the local soil so that they are stable (which is difficult in the circumpolar zones with their probable permafrost), or placed on supports (which further increases the material consumption).
From earlier reports from representatives of Roscosmos, it follows that the reactor for the nuclear power plant at the International Lunar Base, which is backed by China and Russia, will be supplied by our country and will be its contribution to the project. The declared capacity was approximately 500 kilowatts (a mini-installation by the standards of nuclear energy). The head of Roscosmos announced the start of the development of such a reactor on May 8, 2024. They plan to deliver it to the moon on an unmanned cargo ship. The base as a whole should start operating around 2033-2035.
Today, there are two approaches to deep space exploration: American and Russian. The first involves concentrating further efforts on Mars after landing on Selenium. The second, on the contrary, declares the inaccessibility of the Red Planet with modern technology, including due to the so—called radiation threat, which Naked Science wrote about here .
The creation of a lunar base does not make sense in the framework of the first approach, since Mars will need completely different reactors and the station buildings themselves (due to the presence of the atmosphere). That is, it won't be possible to "practice" on Selenium.
The position of the Russian space industry is different. This may be due to its unwillingness to create a superheavy rocket in the foreseeable future, without which the development of the Red Planet is impossible. Chinese superheavy rockets will be enough to deliver a mini-reactor to the Moon, and a trip to the fourth planet is not included in Roscosmos' plans for the foreseeable future.
