With an eye on beating Russia and China to the punch, the Trump administration is about to announce plans to fast-track the building of a nuclear fission reactor on the moon. NASA administrator Sean Duffy, who is also Transportation Secretary, is expected to announce the expedited program this week, according to documents obtained by Politico.
“To properly advance this critical technology to be able to support a future lunar economy, high power energy generation on Mars, and to strengthen our national security in space, it is imperative the agency move quickly,” wrote Duffy in a directive issued Thursday.
In that memorandum, Duffy points to a joint Russian-Chinese plan to build a lunar nuclear reactor of their own. In May, the countries signed a memorandum of cooperation by which they will collaborate on a reactor to power the planned International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), which they hope to have operational by 2036. Led by the Chinese, but part of a collaboration with many other countries including Venezuela, Belarus, South Africa, Pakistan, Egypt and Kazakhstan, the facility is intended to conduct scientific research within a 62-mile radius of the lunar south pole. Other outposts are to follow over the following decades.
If China and Russia beat the United States in establishing their station, they “could potentially declare a keep-out zone,” Duffy warned. The rival US lunar program is called Artemis. Its first major milestone is supposed to return American astronauts to the moon in 2027, but there’s little chance of hitting that target, as critical components are still in development. China is working to put an astronaut on the moon by 2030.
Micro-nuclear reactors are considered essential to a sustained presence on the moon because lunar days and lunar nights last for two weeks each, rendering solar panels and batteries insufficient. Per Duffy’s directive, NASA has 60 days to name a leader of the nuclear-reactor project and gather industry perspectives. The overarching goal: launching a nuclear reactor with at least 100 kilowatts of generation capacity by late 2029.
Earlier NASA design work had a lesser, 40-kilowatt reactor tipping the scales at more than five metric tons. The contracted designers for that effort — at about an initial $5 million apiece — were Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and IX, a joint venture of Intuitive Machines and X-Energy. In May, Rolls-Royce said it was soliciting space-industry partners to develop a micro-nuclear reactor suitable for Artemis.
BREAKING: China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft touches down, the first to return to Earth from the moon’s far side.
Follow our free-to-read live blog for the latest: https://t.co/lFPipJdbhb pic.twitter.com/ryjRaG3QVr
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) June 25, 2024
Last year, the Chinese notched a scientific victory, retrieving the first soil and rock samples from the far side of the moon and returning them to Earth. The Chang’e-6 craft used a drill and scoop to mine more than four pounds of material from the moon’s deepest crater. Their study of the material raised the possibility that the far side may be significantly drier than the near side, but the single sample isn’t conclusive.
A second new Duffy directive orders an accelerated project to replace the fading International Space Station (ISS), awarding contracts to at least two companies within six months of NASA issuing a request for proposals. The ISS is scheduled for decommissioning at the end of 2030, after which it will be sent into a controlled de-orbit that should see most of it burned up, with the remaining hunks of glowing-hot metal landing in a hopefully-empty part of the Pacific Ocean. If it’s not immediately replaced, China would have the only operational space station. Companies who’ve pursued space station business include Axiom Space, Vast and Blue Origin, Politico reports.
There’s no indication yet of how much these accelerated space ambitions will set us back. Sure, America has more than $150 trillion of debt and unfunded liabilities, but why not throw a lunar nuclear reactor on the credit card? We deserve it.
Nuclear reactor on the moon and you’re bearish? https://t.co/WXjqQO2MBD pic.twitter.com/UIs90pf31I
— East Village Guy (@eastvillageguy) August 4, 2025
a “nuclear reactor” on the “moon” https://t.co/oXAdCvHCCH pic.twitter.com/ZK15cA4b36
— sclv (@sclv) August 5, 2025
“can we see the Epstein files?”
“best I can do is an imaginary nuclear reactor on the Moon” pic.twitter.com/Rpb7o9En6K
— ᐱ ᑎ ᑐ ᒋ ᕮ ᒍ (@Andr3jH) August 4, 2025
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