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Trump leaves space nuclear policy executive order for Biden team
A hot fire test of the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi was not completed as planned. The SLS is the vehicle meant to propel a crewed mission to the moon in 2024. Source: NASA Television
Among the executive orders President Trump issued during his last weeks in office was “Promoting Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration,” which builds on the Space Policy Directives published during his term. The order, issued on January 12, calls for actions within the next six months by NASA and the Department of Defense (DOD), together with the Department of Energy and other federal entities. Whether the Biden administration will retain some, all, or none of the specific goals of the Trump administration’s space nuclear policy remains to be seen, but one thing is very clear: If deep space exploration remains a priority, nuclear-powered and -propelled spacecraft will be needed.
The prospects for near-term deployment of nuclear propulsion and power systems in space improved during Trump’s presidency. However, Trump left office days after a hot fire test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket did not go as planned. The SLS rocket is meant to propel crewed missions to the moon in 2024 and to enable a series of long-duration lunar missions that could be powered by small lunar reactor installations. The test on January 16 of four engines that were supposed to fire for over eight minutes was automatically aborted after one minute, casting some doubt that a planned November 2021 Artemis I mission can go ahead on schedule.
K. A. D. Obrey, F. Fierro, J. Martinez, R. Randolph, D. W. Schmidt
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 63 | Number 2 | March-April 2013 | Pages 247-251
Technical Paper | Selected papers from 20th Target Fabrication Meeting, May 20-24, 2012, Santa Fe, NM, Guest Editor: Robert C. Cook | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST63-2-247
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Three recent experimental campaigns at Los Alamos National Laboratory have required unique application of traditional machining techniques to manufacture the components. For pRad experiments at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANCE), unique planar targets with varying profiles required unique fixturing: a custom programming software to create concentric rings with a 2-deg taper that had five different sine waves machined across the face. Also, experiments using P8 modulated capsules for Asymmetric Burn Experiment (ABEX) experiments at Omega made use of a water-soluble ultraviolet-curable glue, which was used for holding and locating purposes during machining operations to produce an indicating datum, as well as a custom fixturing system, which allowed the ability to apply the impression gum from behind. Finally, for the milling of a 125-m-thick silica aerogel for dense-plasma equation-of-state experiments, we used an ultraprecision milling machine with a high-speed spindle and precise positional accuracy that permits micrometer depth of cuts at higher feed rates, which allowed for a reduction in machining time.