Filter by tags: Los Alamos National Laboratory Outer space Clear all tag filters
6 news articles found
The shipment earlier this year of heat source plutonium-238 from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) represents a critical step toward fuelling planned space missions with radioisotope power systems, NASA had said.
- Source: NEI Magazine
- Date: Thursday, 30 November 2023
- Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsnasa-moves-closer-to-use-of-plutonium-238-to-power-space-missions-11335593
Contracts also signed by companies in US
- Source: Nucnet
- Date: Saturday, 21 October 2023
- Original article: nucnet.org/news/framatome-launches-new-brand-in-bid-to-play-decisive-role-10-5-2023
With nuclear technology set to underpin new developments in space travel, NASA has awarded Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation a contract to manufacture and test fuel and develop the design of a nuclear thermal propulsion engine for near-term missions. Separately, Space Nuclear Power Corporation has partnered with Lockheed Martin Corporation and BWX Technologies for the US Space Force/Air Force's JETSON nuclear electric propulsion demonstration project, while Framatome has announced the creation of a new brand, Framatome Space.
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Saturday, 21 October 2023
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Nuclear-companies-sign-up-for-space-technology-mis
The Kilopower technology was developed at the laboratory in partnership with NASA and the National Nuclear Security Administration. Patrick McClure, who served as project lead for Kilopower at Los Alamos and is now a partner in SpaceNukes, said that by creating a new company, Kilopower’s founders are hoping to be able to reach potential new sponsors “who will want to take this technology to the next level and put it into space”.
Kilopower is a small, lightweight fission power system capable of providing various ranges of power depending on the need. For example, SpaceNukes offers low-kilowatt reactors to power deep space missions, middle-range reactors in the tens of kilowatts to power a lunar or martian habitat, and much larger reactors in the hundreds of kilowatts that could make enough propellant for a rocket to return to Earth after a stay on Mars.
- Source: Nucnet
- Date: Saturday, 07 November 2020
- Original article: nucnet.org/news/new-us-company-to-develop-los-alamos-kilopower-reactor-11-5-2020
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has agreed to license Kilopower space reactor technology to New Mexico company Space Nuclear Power Corporation (SpaceNukes), which aims to commercialise the technology for use in space in the next few years.
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Saturday, 07 November 2020
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Los-Alamos-spin-off-to-commercialise-space-reactor
A team of researchers, including engineers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, has demonstrated a new concept for a reliable nuclear reactor that could be used on space flights.
- Source: NEI Magazine
- Date: Tuesday, 27 November 2012
- Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsdoe-and-nasa-demonstrate-space-reactor