Nuclear Nights and Starlab Lights: the next era of space exploration beckons (science news).

In an otherworldly leap that would make SFcrowsnest readers wiggle their antennae in delight, NASA is inching closer to making lunar living a not-so-far-fetched fantasy. Picture this: a nuclear reactor nestled among the Moon’s craters, tirelessly powering lunar habitats and rovers while Earthlings snooze. This isn’t a sci-fi script; it’s the Fission Surface Power Project, and it’s as real as the Moon in the sky.

Back in 2022, NASA, with a flourish of futuristic foresight, handed out $5 million contracts like candy at a space parade. The mission? For each commercial partner to conjure up a concept design for a petite, power-packing nuclear fission reactor. This isn’t just any reactor, mind you. It’s one that could light up the lunar landscape and maybe, just maybe, Mars too.

Trudy Kortes, NASA’s very own wizard of technology demonstration, has her eyes on the Moon. “The lunar night is a tough cookie,” she might as well have said. Solar power? Pfft. That’s so last century. This nuclear reactor is all about defying the Sun’s no-show during those pesky 14-and-a-half Earth day-long lunar nights.

Speaking of thinking outside the (rocket) box, NASA’s Lindsay Kaldon, the project manager with possibly the coolest job title ever, shared that the designs submitted were as varied as flavors of moon ice cream. The catch? The reactor must be a featherweight at under six metric tons and churn out a zippy 40 kilowatts of power. That’s enough juice to keep 33 Earth households humming, or a few lunar bases and rovers doing the moonwalk.

Safety? Check. Longevity? Check. This reactor aims to hum along for a decade without a single human poke. NASA’s also got Rolls Royce North American Technologies, Brayton Energy, and General Electric tinkering with Brayton power converters to turn nuclear heat into electric neat.

The next phase? Picking the best of the best designs to plant on the Moon. If all goes to plan, by the early 2030s, one of these reactors will be moon-bound, ready to light up our lunar dreams. And if it’s a hit, who knows? Mars might be next on the power-up list. So, as we Earthlings continue to gaze up at the Moon, maybe, just maybe, we’ll soon see a glimmer of nuclear-powered hope, lighting up the dark side of the Moon. In the world of SFcrowsnest, where the fantastic meets the factual, NASA’s Fission Surface Power Project is one giant leap closer to making lunar living a part of our universal neighborhood.

In other space news, today, Voyager Space and Airbus, those interstellar masterminds, have cooked up a plan to send Starlab, their shiny new private space station, into orbit aboard a SpaceX Starship rocket. And this isn’t some far-flung space saga; it’s happening before the decade waves goodbye. Starlab, a gem in the cosmic crown of private space stations, has been garnering attention, and not just because it sounds like a celestial disco. This high-flying project has NASA’s wallet opening up under the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program. Why? To dodge a dreaded “space station gap” when the International Space Station does its swan song in 2030.

Now, Voyager CEO Dylan Thomas spilled the cosmic beans in a recent chinwag, saying launching Starlab in one grand mission has always been the game plan. Enter Starship, SpaceX’s heavy-lifting rocket and the only one burly enough to carry Starlab’s 8-meter girth in one star-studded go. Thomas’s logic? Multiple launches and orbital DIY assembly are riskier than a game of asteroid dodgeball. Plus, it’s pricey.

The Voyager-Airbus duo sealed their Starlab deal earlier this month, making it official after teasing the space world last August. It’s a match made in the heavens, with Airbus flaunting its technical chops and Voyager, through its operative wing Nanoracks, flaunting its NASA know-how. But it wasn’t all smooth space sailing. Being a transatlantic affair, they had to jump through some intergovernmental hoops, like a tete-a-tete with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, as mentioned by Taylor.

Airbus isn’t just in for the space ride; they’re rolling up their sleeves to build the Starlab module. And if things go well, we might see a constellation of Starlabs in our cosmic backyard.

Voyager’s starry eyes are set on a 2028 launch, but they’re playing coy with the dates. The goal? To have Starlab orbiting before we bid adieu to the ISS. With a slew of design reviews on the horizon, culminating in the Preliminary Design Review by year’s end, they’re making sure Starlab is not just a flash in the pan but a bona fide space marvel. In a space twist, last October, Northrop Grumman ditched its own space station dreams to join the Starlab constellation. They’re bringing their Cygnus spacecraft, fresh from its 20th ISS resupply mission, to the party, focusing on docking technology and cargo resupply. Talk about bringing experience to the space table.