The nations are running ahead to be the first to base a base on Mars.
Nuclear power plant
The concept of using nuclear power to expand our human presence in other parts of the solar system is more alive than ever.
An example of this: A subsidiary of the Russian space agency Roskosmos is now proposing a nuclear power plant on Mars that will supply a future Russian base on the Red Planet with electricity, reports the state news agency Sputnik.
Arsenal Design Bureau, the subsidiary, recommends using the same technologies destined for Zeus, a planned interplanetary space tug, to power a nuclear reactor on the surface of Mars as well.
Zeus delivery
The massive space tug is designed to use a nuclear powered electric propulsion system to move payloads across the solar system. Earlier this year, Roscosmos boss Dmitry Rogozin suggested that Zeus could visit other planets, including Jupiter, to look for extraterrestrial life. Russia hopes to start flight tests around 2030.
The Arsenal Design Bureau is now proposing to use Zeus to send a separate nuclear power plant to the Red Planet and have it lowered to the surface below using a parachute landing system.
Space ambitions
Despite severe budget constraints – according to Sputnik, the country has spent less than a tenth on its space program compared to what the US government allocated to NASA last year – the Russian space agency recently announced massively ambitious plans for the next decade, including the launch of a Russian space station, manned and unmanned missions to the moon and even the construction of a lunar base in cooperation with China.
Russia has a lot to do before it can dispatch a nuclear-powered space tug to take a nuclear power plant to Mars, let alone build a manned base there. But the ambition is there – and maybe with the right political will there could be a way.
CONTINUE READING: Russian space agency wants to bring nuclear power plant to Mars [Sputnik]
More about the Russian space program: Russia is preparing to hack off an entire section of the space station
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