#METOO: Space experts foresee an “operational need” for nuclear power on the Moon.

Each day and night on the Moon lasts two weeks. When the Sun sets, a solar-powered lunar lander like Odysseus is starved of energy. Temperatures during the lunar night plummet, bottoming out at around minus 280° Fahrenheit (minus 173° Celsius).

Over the course of two weeks, these cold temperatures can damage sensitive spacecraft equipment, killing a lander even if it could start generating power again at lunar sunrise. Surviving the night requires heat and electricity, and NASA officials say nuclear power is one of the most attractive solutions to this problem.

“We do anticipate having to deploy nuclear systems on the lunar surface,” said Jay Jenkins, program executive for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

“Honestly, it’s not unrealistic that we’ll want to do be able to do this within five years or less. We are starting to buy payloads that are meant for investigations that go beyond one lunar day,” Jenkins said during a Nuclear Regulatory Commission conference earlier this month.

I like the idea of small, rugged, transportable reactors for down here, too.