Rolls-Royce is developing a nuclear reactor that he hopes will be able to power mining operations on the moon and even on Mars, The Mail on Sunday may reveal.
Dave Gordon, head of the company’s defense division, said they are investigating how a micronuclear reactor could be used to propel rockets at tremendous speeds in space. He announced that Rolls-Royce is investigating whether this technology could then be reused to provide energy for drilling, processing and storage for what is known as moon mining.
Valuable natural resources on the moon include water, which can be converted into rocket fuel, and rare elements and metals used on earth for power generation and electrical appliances.
Nuclear technology could eventually pave the way for “Martian mining,” added Gordon. Once developed, Rolls-Royce will likely look for missile and mining specialists to work with.
The British engineering giant started a joint study with the UK space agency earlier this year on nuclear power options for space missiles.
Rolls-Royce has set itself the goal of halving the travel time to Mars to three months.
Gordon said the project skyrocketed Rolls-Royce’s agenda thanks to space exploration from billionaires Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, and Elon Musk, the minds behind Tesla electric cars.
“If we had had this conversation a few years ago, you would have looked confused,” he told MoS at the Defense and Security Equipment International arms fair in London.
‘But now because of the work that companies like [Bezos’s] Blue origin and [Musk’s] SpaceX does, suddenly not only does it become believable, but there is actually a demand. ‘ He added, “We are the only company on the planet that makes mechanical, electrical and nuclear products. We’re the only ones going through a full end-to-end nuclear capability lifecycle. ‘
Gordon said Rolls-Royce had 60 years of experience developing nuclear submarines for the Royal Navy.
He added that submarines were similar to spacecraft in that they were “non-breathable environments, long life, super-reliable with a very dense source of energy”.
The engineer’s nuclear-powered submarine skills were in focus last week when the UK and US announced they would help Australia build eight new ships, angering China and France.
Rolls-Royce and the British company BAE Systems are considered contenders to work on the submarines.
Hot thing: The Rolls-Royce microreactor, which is connected to electricity to a lunar base
The main resources of the moon include helium-3, a rare element used in industries such as nuclear fusion that could power onward travel deeper into space using the moon as a gas station.
The moon also has water that could be used to sustain life that can be turned into rocket fuel, and rare earth metals that are used in electronics like smartphones and the latest cars. At present, 90 percent of the global supply of rare earth metals comes from China. Methods of storing and transporting resources extracted from the moon back to Earth are a key debate among researchers.
Gordon said, “There is a great shortage of rare earth metals. We know they exist on other planets because they all came from the same thing. This really isn’t rocket science. So hopefully the mining of asteroids, moon and Mars will happen during my lifetime. ‘
The nuclear reactor would only be used in space. It would be launched into orbit from Earth as a payload using a normal rocket. Then the reactor system would be “turned on” to provide the propulsion system for the journey from Earth orbit to Mars.
A large spaceship can be built in orbit similar to the International Space Station, using multiple normal rocket launches to get everything there. Once completed, the reactor would be used for super high speed propulsion to Mars.
No nation can claim sovereignty of the moon under the space treaty signed in 1967, but the US and Soviet Union brought back lunar soil samples in the 1960s and 1970s. Nuclear systems have already been used on the moon. In 1969, the Apollo 12 crew used a generator to provide power to operate scientific instruments.
Gordon, 53, said nuclear power is the obvious choice of energy source, especially in research: “The further you get from the sun, the less useful solar is. When you have a dense, reliable source [like nuclear], it seems believable. So we talked to the UK space agency about it. ‘
The designs for the microreactor, which The Mail saw on Sunday, show a device powered by a silicon-coated uranium the size of “poppy seeds”, housed in metal and connected to a Stirling engine that enables convert the heat into electricity.
Gordon acknowledged that the project would cost “hundreds of millions of pounds” to complete, but that the early-stage work could be done for far less money.
Rolls-Royce hopes to produce a demonstration vehicle by the end of the decade. It is said it could create 10,000 jobs across the UK supply chain.
China is already on the dark side
China’s participation in the race for mines on the moon should put western nations on alert, legislators and academics said.
Beijing has launched a series of unmanned trips to the dark side of the moon to collect samples, including the Chang’e 5 mission late last year.
The communist state has also announced plans to build a people-friendly moon base between 2036 and 2045 that could be used for mining.
Tobias Ellwood, Conservative chairman of the Commons Defense Committee, said: “We are in a soft power war. China can wreak huge damage in space – by turning off satellites used for navigation, communications, and financial transactions. They are starting to mine the dark side of the moon and their intentions cannot be trusted. ‘
Dr. Mark Hilborne of the Space Security Research Group at King’s College London added, “They don’t want China to get a stranglehold on the moon’s assets. Western powers should be on alert. ‘
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