Pravda Reports: Russia to build nuclear power installations for interplanetary travel

Russia's Kurchatov Scientific Institute resumes its work to create nuclear power installations for distant interplanetary flights.

It was Russia that made the first breakthrough in the field of space nuclear power at the beginning of the 1980s when Russian scientists created a small-sized space installation known as Topaz.

“It was much more effective than foreign analogues in terms of technical and operational characteristics. We used enriched uranium as fuel,” says Mikhail Kovalchuk, the director of the Kurchatov Institute.

“We are not simply competitive in the field of power installations, we are pioneers. Very few organisations have such advanced technologies. Americans were really surprised to see our Topaz installations. They haven’t seen anything like that before.”

The main goal of such power installations is to provide satellites with energy. In general, nuclear power installations are used only in situations when it is impossible to use any other kinds of energy sources. On the near-earth orbits (NEOs), solar energy elements are widely used as the basic energy source. Today the have the capacity to generate 20 kilowatt, approx.

However, this capacity is not enough for distant space flights, that is why there is only one alternative and that is, to use these nuclear power installations.

“Nuclear power space installation should not only provide the crew with the energy necessary for life conditions, but it should also be powerful enough to keep nuclear rocket engine working. Estimations predict the generating capacity of such installation to about 100 kilowatt,” says Michael Kovalchuk.

“The main idea is to create a nuclear-powered tug spacecraft which could transport cargoes or people to space. Such a tug will help us make our Lunar and Martian space programs real and competitive. That is why the creation of this nuclear space tug is extremely important. If we are able to create a new generation of nuclear power installations, mankind will soon be able to explore space on an industrial scale.”