China Is Set To Beat NASA With Space Nuclear Reactor That Will Revolutionize Space Exploration
“We are limited only by our imagination and our will to act.” — Ron Garan
China is ready to challenge NASA and Space X with its new space nuclear reactor. The space reactor that China is gearing up to send into space can be used for operational power and propulsion for satellites, probes, space stations, and crewed missions. This reactor is so powerful that it can power the International Space Station 10x.
The reactor is called HELSINKI; it was conceptualized in early 2019 and has, as of now, passed a stringent performance evaluation. HELSINKI has a staggering 1 MW output and will become the most powerful power source in space. This means that it will change the entire landscape of space exploration for the foreseeable future.
Currently, NASA rely on solar cells and RTGs for their space power needs. Both are used to power satellites, space stations, crewed missions and probes. Both solar and RTGs provide a moderate amount of power, however, they have several drawbacks.
For example, solar cells provide much lesser amounts of power, which decrease considerably the farther you get from the sun. This further inhibits deep space exploration, especially if the satellites need to travel to other galaxies.
RTGs on the other hand are used for NASA’s space power needs by utilizing decaying radioactive materials, which can power satellites and probes for a few decades. RTGs are used by the Voyager and New Horizons satellites sent into space by NASA. However, RTGs leak a lot of radiation and can’t be used for crewed missions.
Nuclear power solves these problems and can provide power for longer periods as compared to solar cells & RTGs. It opens up a wide range of futuristic possibilities from nuclear electric propulsion & the complex orbits they offer, high-power zero-g experiments, and even Moon bases and long-haul human space flight.
But nuclear power in space comes with its fair share of problems. If nuclear reactors explode during launch, it could leak nuclear fuel across a wide area. There is also another problem in space, i.e. if the nuclear reactor explodes or melts down in space, it could kill the crew onboard the spacecraft on a crewed mission.
This is perhaps the biggest reason why NASA hasn’t produced a nuclear reactor yet. But they’re close to one for their Artemis Mission which is going ahead and commissioning a reactor from several private companies. However, NASA might not receive the reactor until the end of the decade, so it seems likely that China will beat NASA to successfully launching a nuclear reactor into space with HELSINKI.
Fortunately, China is not being secretive about this technology and have made all their progress known publicly, which is great news for space organizations around the world.
China’s new space station is set to use this new technology which will enable the station to conduct experiments that the International Space Station is currently incapable of conducting.
China also aim to perform sample return missions from the lunar South Pole and an asteroid. The mission, which entails landing on an asteroid and returning samples, which will then go on to find and observe a comet as up close as possible, will be possible with HELSINKI. Landing on an asteroid and comet will require significantly large amounts of power for years to pull off such a bold and difficult manoeuvre, which is something that a powerful nuclear reactor attached to an ion thruster could easily do.
There are also plans for a mission to Neptune similar to something the Voyager is currently doing. The Neptune mission will be similar to NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter and will explore weather, composition, and all of Neptune’s fourteen moons. However, the Juno mission uses solar power for its power requirements, while this mission to Neptune can’t be executed through solar power because it is too far away from the Sun. Subsequently, the probe will require a lot of extra thrust to slow down and get into Neptune’s orbit. But a nuclear reactor like HELSINKI can provide the power this probe needs and help in thrusting it to Neptune by powering its thrusters that extra mile.
HELSINKI can also be useful for interstellar probe travels to other galaxies. For example, the Voyager took 40 years to exit the solar system. The Voyager wasn’t propelled, instead it floated in space at a constant speed to reach where it has currently.
HELSINKI can enable a probe’s travel for the same distance, achieving it much much faster by attaching the reactor to a high speed ion thruster. China could use their HELSINKI powered probes to accelerate for decades and reach speeds which were previously unseen & unheard of, and it will allow us to explore the regions and the deep depths of space in ways we previously never could.
However, on the other side of the coin, NASA has created some controversy by accusing China of creating military space programmes, which could violate space treaties and pose a threat to NASA. This could see China claim certain territories in space like on the Moon. Although, this seems unlikely, it does pose a nascent worry for different countries’ interests in space.
This could also be an attempt by NASA to destabilize HELSINKI because for the first time since the 1950s, NASA is lagging behind another country when it comes to creating new technology for space exploration and travel.
But despite the conflicts that could arise, HELSINKI will enable the next generation of space exploration, research and travel, and which, if made available to countries around the world, will usher in the new era of humanity’s tryst with the wonders of space.
It’s an exciting time to witness these advancements, which could pave the way and enable the beginning of colonizing planets, which is further evidence of the power of human imagination.
