The US wants to build nuclear power plants that will work on the moon and Mars, and on Friday put out a request for ideas from the private sector on how to do that.
The US Department of Energy put out the formal request to build what it calls a fission surface power system that could allow humans to live for long periods in harsh space environments.
The Idaho National Laboratory, a nuclear research facility in eastern Idaho, the Energy Department, and NASA will evaluate the ideas for developing the reactor.
The lab has been leading the way in the US on advanced reactors, some of them microreactors and others that can operate without water for cooling.
Water-cooled nuclear reactors are the vast majority of reactors on Earth.
'Small nuclear reactors can provide the power capability necessary for space exploration missions of interest to the Federal government,' the Energy Department wrote in the notice published Friday.
The Energy Department, NASA, and Battelle Energy Alliance, the US contractor that manages the Idaho National Laboratory, plan to hold a government-industry webcast technical meeting in August concerning expectations for the program.
