According to a media report, the US space agency NASA plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon surface. According to internal documents that are available to the US news page “Politico”, the space agency should catch up with concrete suggestions from industry for a 100-kilowatt reactor within 60 days, which should go into operation by 2030. NASA boss Sean Duffy will therefore announce the plans in the coming days.
The background is the growing competition with China. The second largest economy is planning its first manned moon mission at the same time. The NASA paper warns that the first nation with a functional reactor on the moon could call out an “exclusion zone”-with considerable disadvantages for the USA.
Nuclear reactor on the moon: Russia also had the idea
In fact, the idea of a nuclear reactor on the moon is not a new one: Russia had brought the idea into play many years ago, which NASA also researched. Such a power plant could provide the required stable power supply for future moon missions if no solar energy can be drawn there during the approximately two -week dark phase between the sinking and rising of the sun.
The United States wants to go back to the moon after more than 50 years: With the “Artemis” program, astronauts are to land on the earth’s drabant for the first time in 2027. However, the schedule has shifted several times and it is unclear whether US President Donald Trump will hold on to it.
