T-Minus

The Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket have been attached at the hip for the better part of two decades. The big rocket lifts, the smaller spacecraft flies, and Congress keeps the money rolling in.

But now there are signs that the twain may, in the not too distant future, split.

This is because Lockheed Martin has begun to pivot toward a future in which the Orion spacecraft—thanks to increasing reusability, a focus on cost, and openness to flying on different rockets—fits into commercial space applications. In interviews, company officials said that if NASA wanted to buy Orion missions as a "service," rather than owning and operating the spacecraft, they were ready to work with the space agency.

"Our message is we absolutely support it, and we're starting that discussion now," said Anthony Byers, director of Strategy and Business Development for Lockheed Martin, the principal contractor for Orion.

This represents a significant change. Since the US Congress called for the creation of the Space Launch System rocket a decade and a half ago, Orion and this rocket have been discussed in tandem, forming the backbone of an expendable architecture that would launch humans to the Moon and return them to Earth inside Orion.

Through cost-plus contracts, NASA would pay for the rockets and spacecraft to be built, closely supervise all of this, and then operate the vehicles after delivery.

Once unthinkable, NASA and Lockheed now consider launching Orion on other rockets “We’re trying to crawl, then walk, then run into our reuse strategy.”…

Zeno Power has signed an agreement to acquire nuclear waste that it can repurpose to power long-duration and deep-space missions.

The company will make a “multi-million-dollar” payment to Orano, a manager of the nuclear fuel cycle, to acquire a large amount of Americium-241 each year from Orano’s recycling site in France.

New fuel: Being able to survive the lunar night is the top tech gap for NASA, according to a ranked list of shortfalls released last year. Nuclear power is one of the only ways to overcome the lack of sunlight and cold temps during the two-week long spell.

Most nuclear batteries powering space missions rely on plutonium-238. However, a limited supply of the isotope, combined with a growing number of space missions requiring a long-term power source independent of sunlight, led Zeno Power to turn to Americium-241.

Perfect fit: Americium-241 is well-suited for space for a couple reasons, according to Harsh Desai, the chief commercialization officer at Zeno Power.

It has a higher power density, so it won’t require launching lots of mass to space.
Astronauts would be able to work and live nearby power sources using it.
It has a half-life of ~430 years, so it can last for decades.
Abundance: Americium-241 isn’t a naturally occurring isotope. It’s created either as a byproduct of nuclear fission reactors, or as the result of the decay of plutonium. Desai said that means the isotope is plentiful enough to support US government, American commercial, and even allied nation space missions.

“This will enable us to scale this up,” he told Payload. “To get multiple kilograms of Americium-241, that allows us to do more than one mission a year. That’s really critical to ensure we meet the burgeoning demand for power in the space domain.”

Zeno Power Signs Deal for Material To Scale Nuclear Space Power The company will make a “multi-million-dollar” payment to Orano, a manager of the nuclear fuel cycle, to acquire a large amount of Americium-241 each year from Orano’s recycling site in France.

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