NASA Glenn develops new planet power source

CLEVELAND -- NASA Glenn Research Center is innovating how future space exploration is powered.

With Mars as the goal, the ability to make electricity on the planet’s surface is critical to the mission success.

We use electricity every day, including when exploring space and even Mars. That’s why when selecting a new, reliable power source, NASA Glenn Research Center decided to go with nuclear over past sources, like solar.

Kilopower is an experimental prototype reactor that could power the next stage of space exploration. It’s estimated that one of the compact power plants can produce one to 10 kilowatts of electrical power. In comparison, 5 Kilowatts is enough to power a small house.

Past unmanned Mars missions used power technology that only produced a couple hundred watts.

“A human mission to Mars is likely to require on the order of 40 to 50 kilowatts. You can image the big leap needed in technology,” said Lee Manson, NASA’s principal technologist for power and energy storage.

With that power, astronauts could energize habitats, operate rovers and transform Mar’s resources into oxygen, water and fuel. Kilopower was built and tested in Cleveland with addition testing continuing in Nevada.

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