NASA to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030, report states

Even with the Trump administration slashing NASA’s budget and workforce, the space agency is moving ahead with a bold plan to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, according to Politico.

The report states that Transportation Secretary/Interim NASA Administrator Sean Duffy will soon announce the effort, with a goal of opening the 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor by 2030. Much of the urgency appears tied to competition from China and Russia. China plans to send astronauts to the moon in 2030, and both China and Russia have discussed a joint operation to build a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface.

NASA believes that another nation winning the nuclear race on the moon could inhibit the U.S.’s own lunar ambitions. With lunar night lasting two weeks at a time, nuclear power would be an alternative to solar, powering permanent or semi-permanent lunar bases and missions. Additionally, some of the moon lies in permanent shadow, making solar-powered missions more complicated in those areas. Nuclear power would open up much more of the moon to humans, according to NASA.

How the reactor would be built remains an open question, though Newsweek suggests the power generator could use uranium fuel and be buried under the lunar surface to shield astronauts from radiation.

NASA also has plans to replace the aging International Space Station by 2030, possibly with the help of corporate entities like Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin. The ISS is likely to be decommissioned and crashed into the ocean by then, and if an ISS replacement is not constructed in time, then China would operate the only permanently crewed space station.

Under Trump and Duffy, NASA is also prioritizing human spaceflight, including to Mars, while deemphasizing scientific efforts.