Pulsed Power for Lunar Applications

Under the Artemis program, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to establish and develop a permanently manned settlement on the Moon over the next decade. Electrical power is a vital resource for a sustainable lunar base, and photovoltaic arrays plus a small (10 kW) fission power plant will be used for the base power generation. The preferred location for the base is at the south pole of the Moon near a crater that offers access to sunlight for solar power, line-of-sight communications to Earth, and low temperature permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) that contain lunar ice and other resources for self-sustainment. The PSR regions are below the critical operating temperature of modern “high” temperature superconductors (HTSs) and we, therefore, suggest that an HTS superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system could provide MJ, MW pulsed power to support the Artemis habitat. Lunar pulsed power requirements could include directed energy systems, high power radars, and electromagnetic (EM) launch systems for lunar detection and defense against meteorites, as well as lunar surveying and global positioning system (GPS), and lunar manufacturing. An SMES system has moderate energy storage density but high-power density, fast discharge times, and high efficiency. It is inherently long-lasting, ideally suited to the low PSR temperatures, and uses environmentally acceptable materials.