Rolls-Royce is to get several million pounds of financial backing from the UK Space Agency to try and work out how nuclear energy can be used to power a future moon base.
Scientists and engineers at Rolls-Royce are developing a micro-reactor programme which could one day provide power for operations on the lunar surface – supporting communications, life-support and science experiments.
The Derby-based engineering company said nuclear power – providing a “clean, green and long-term power source” – had the potential to dramatically increase the duration of future lunar missions and their scientific value, when people finally return. The last man on the moon was Gene Cernan, in December 1972.
