Rolls Royce is making a small nuclear power plant, but not for a car

Rolls-Royce Hector to be established the concept of a nuclear microreactor. Designed for space exploration, it could one day provide power for a moon settlement. The project was showcased at the British Aerospace Conference in Belfast last week, where a non-working prototype was shown.

An internal power source for a lunar base is important because NASA has identified the polar region as a hypothetical habitat. This is the point where the sunlight never comes, and therefore the solar panels could not be used. On the other hand, there may be water.

So, the next moon base will need its own power source, and it looks like a small nuclear reactor the most obvious choice: the low weight allows it to be loaded into the rocket without many problems, but at the same time it can generate a good amount of energy. This will have to be enough to maintain daily operations: running the ventilation system, recycling water, charging the rovers and so on.

The UK has already financed the project with more than 3 million euros. It will take many more, and at least another six years of research, to be able to create this mill.

“This ground-breaking research from Rolls-Royce could lay the foundations for a possible human presence on the Moon,” Paul Bate, director general of the British Space Agency, said in an official statement.