MULE Moon Reactor Concept Promises 95-Year Operation in a 2.1-Ton Package
Updated
Updated · Universe Today · Sep 28
MULE Moon Reactor Concept Promises 95-Year Operation in a 2.1-Ton Package
1 articles · Updated · Universe Today · Sep 28
Summary
A preprint by Technical University of Munich researchers outlines MULE, a lunar microreactor concept built to keep Moon bases running through 14-day nights that can plunge to -223°C.
At its core is a heat-cascade design: roughly 1000°C output would drive molten-salt electrolysis to extract oxygen and metals from regolith, 750°C would generate electricity, and 150°C waste heat would warm habitats.
The reactor uses 37 hexagonal silicon-carbide fuel assemblies packed with TRISO particles and 93% enriched U-235, with six rotating drums replacing control rods in a compact 2.3-meter-by-0.78-meter, 2.1-metric-ton system.
Serpent 2 simulations showed only 5.34 degrees of control-drum rotation after 10 years and suggested the design could run 95 years without refueling, though the paper remains conceptual.
Major hurdles remain: hot-helium handling, ceramic thermal shock, and radiation shielding, which the authors propose solving by burying the reactor under several meters of lunar regolith that current excavation systems cannot yet dig.