Liviu Popa-Simil reported in 2015 that nuclear power is still a genuinely new domain with respect to space exploration. The field is still in its infancy, despite of over 60 years of peaceful development of nuclear power on Earth, and many successful applications in space. Nuclear power sources are very compact and may be used for local power generation or as a source for propulsion in advanced thrusters. Fission batteries experience drastic limitations with respect to the energy that might be stored on board a spacecraft, due to criticality issues. Fusion batteries remove this impediment, but fusion energy is in an early stage of technological research. Today, the best propulsion systems are inertial, jet based electric thrusters, providing a powerful source of efficient propulsive energy, but even with the development of these thrusters, travel throughout the solar system within reasonable time scales is unattainable. In the absence of other superior, physics-based propulsion concepts, nuclear-energy-powered jet propulsion may take us to the limits of our solar system, but no further.
Although the above-presented types of nuclear devices have many applications in terrestrial power systems, these devices are most outstanding in extreme environments (including underwater applications). These new compact, silent, high power sources may also allow more advanced propulsion methods, providing long operation hours, and thus a seamless presence in all strategic locations in space should be achievable. Directed energy devices in low earth orbits
Right now there are numerous space missions under design that require powerful, portable solid-state energy sources that could make use of the above-cited fission or fusion batteries or an isotopic battery that delivers continuous power. In the absence of such power supplies, designs have to be based on solar energy that requires extremely large solar panels. Apart from their size, these huge structures are easy to detect and annihilate and therefore are less useful for military space applications. In several space projects, all of them require compact high-power sources in outer-space. Also discussed is the capability of airborne or space systems equipped with directed energy devices to disable their use, inflicting minimal damage to the enemy but enforcing peace talks or negotiations.
Nuclear batteries, isotopic, fission, and fusion, are among the very few energy sources that are compact enough to assure extended space travel and might provide the possibility of colonizing our solar system from Venus to Jupiter, even including Pluto in the next two centuries. The first step will be Mars, the nearest and most life-friendly planet. Novel radiation channeling devices open the way for more advanced shielding for biological life, electronics and other sensitive devices, as well as for radiation concentrators for energy harvesting or imaging. The new developments of quantum-nuclear active environments, based on long-range nuclear reactions via entanglement, may open the way for better understanding of advanced concepts and power production.
Fusion-based devices are the only ones that do not have energy storage limitations in space, as is the case for fission and radioisotope based devices, delivering the best solution of generating power when required and producing an almost unlimited amount of energy, thus providing the most suitable power source for interplanetary travel. Isotopic batteries are invaluable devices to power all kind of satellites, but, because of the half-life time of the respective isotopes, are the major cause for the limited life span of the satellite. It was shown that those new devices developed by using nano-technologies in combination with nuclear technology, have many military and strategic applications. The opportunities created by this novel, powerful technology, which, by itself is not detrimental, may, however, become dangerous to mankind if applied by humans of insufficient moral qualities. In other words, it is indispensable that the advancement of technology is accompanied by a similar advancement of our civilization level that must take place at planetary scale.
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