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Neil Armstrong was the first person ever to set foot on the surface of the moon - this photo shows his shadow.
Photo: NASA / REUTERS
The time has come in 2025: after more than 50 years, people should set foot on the moon again - and they should build a lunar base.
The US space agency is currently working on an energy concept so that the astronauts can get their electricity there.
She has now launched an appeal: Anyone who has an idea for a system for generating energy through nuclear fission on the moon should contact the space agency.
That means: NASA wants to build a nuclear power plant.
An energy source independent of the sun
NASA put the project out to tender together with the Idaho National Laboratory, a research facility of the Department of Energy, the US Department of Energy.
The authorities say they want to find a sun-independent energy source by the end of the decade to supply the participants in future moon missions with electricity.
"Providing a reliable, high-performance system on the moon is a critical next step in human space exploration and is within reach," said Sebastian Corbisiero, director of the Fission Surface Power Project at Idaho National Laboratory.
"Plenty of energy will be the key to future space exploration," said Jim Reuter from NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.
This board of directors finances the nuclear power project.
"I expect that nuclear fission will greatly benefit our energy supply plans for the moon and Mars and even drive innovations for applications here on earth."
The moon mission was actually supposed to start in 2024, but at the beginning of the month NASA announced that the moon landing "would not take place before 2025".
Not too big, not too difficult, not too complicated
The tender is aimed at US companies and runs until mid-February 2022. By then, an initial system design must be submitted.
There are numerous conditions for any concepts: the system should be ready for a demonstration on the moon within ten years.
It should be possible to operate the system autonomously from the deck of a lunar module or a rover on the lunar surface - without people having to switch the reactor on and off.
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The prerequisites for energy generation are also outlined: Plans are being sought for a reactor core that will run on uranium.
It must also contain a system for converting nuclear energy into usable energy, a thermal management system for cooling the reactor and a distribution system that delivers at least 40 kilowatts of continuous electrical power - enough for 30 households over ten years, according to NASA.
The question of how a nuclear reactor should be assembled on the moon is also answered in the tender: should it not.
The system must be built on earth and then sent to the moon.
That is why it should not be more than four meters in diameter and a maximum of six meters long - with a maximum weight of 6,000 kilograms.
Research on small reactors is also ongoing on Earth
The US Department of Energy is also working with private companies on various plans, particularly a new generation of smaller power plants that range from modular reactors to mobile reactors that can be quickly set up on site and removed when not in use.
When generating nuclear energy, a distinction is made between nuclear fission, which is also called »fission«, and nuclear fusion.
During fission, heavy atomic nuclei, such as uranium, are broken down into lighter atomic nuclei.
Energy is released in the process.
This is how conventional nuclear power plants work.
In nuclear fusion, light atoms are fused together.
So far, this process has not played a role in electricity generation.
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