XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.physics   
   From: vaughnsimon@gmail.com   
      
   On 10/13/2016 10:57 PM, jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com wrote:   
   > I was talking about 50 MW of electrical power, not heat power.   
      
   A small nuclear power plant of that capacity is orders of magnitude   
   beyond the current state of the art.  Building a small nuclear reactor   
   with megawatts of capacity is doable with today's technology, but making   
   a highly reliable heat engine to convert that heat into mechanical   
   energy, and doing it in a suitably low mass and tiny package, is an   
   entirely different matter.  (NOTE: A nuclear reactor only makes heat.   
   The only practical way we currently have to convert megawatts of heat   
   into megawatts of electricity is with mechanical heat engines.)   
      
   >   
   > So the present state of the art is sufficient to support a research   
   > station on Mars but nowhere capable of supporting a colony and industry.   
      
   Agreed.   
      
   Vaughn   
      
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