NASA accelerates its installation plans for a nuclear reactor on the moon

NASA will accelerate its steps to install a nuclear reactor on the moon by the end of the decade. Nevertheless, the space agency confirmed on Tuesday in AFP, in the middle of the space race between the United States and its Russian and Chinese rivals.

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“It is imperative that the agency acts quickly,” insists the acting administrator of NASA, Sean Duffy, in a directive relayed by several American media, including Politico, and transmitted to AFP on Tuesday.

“Since March 2024. For example, China and Russia have at least announced their common intention to install a reactor on the moon by the mid-2030s. However, The first country to do nasa accelerates its installation plans so could potentially declare an exclusion zone. which would considerably prevent the United States from establishing the presence provided for the Artemis program,” he continues.

Announced under Donald Trump’s first term. this program provides for the sending of new American astronauts to the Moon, now for “mid-2027”, then the establishment of their long-term presence on the star, more than 50 years after the last Apollo mission.

For this. NASA has been studying for years the possibility of installing a small nuclear reactor on the Moon – and in the future on Mars – in order to allow the production of energy necessary for such a human presence.

Unlike solar energy systems. a nuclear device could be installed in areas perpetually in the shade, especially near the South Pole where the United States and its rivals concentrate their efforts, and produce continuous energy, even during lunar nights, which last several terrestrial nasa accelerates its installation plans weeks.

NASA now puts on sending such a reactor by 2030.

The call for tenders. which will be published soon, will relate to a device capable of producing at least 100 kwatts of electricity – enough to feed around 75 American households.

This announcement occurs while the world race for space. especially between the United States and China, is in full swing, Beijing having announced that it wanted to send men to the moon by 2030.

Since his return to power, Donald Trump, however, has been fluctuating on his number 1 priority in terms of spatial exploration.

Critique of the Lunar Program Artémis. very expensive and having undergone many delays, the Republican has suggested in recent months that he could ignore the moon to go directly to Mars.

A goal surely influenced by his close adviser at the time. the multimillionaire Elon Musk, who has the red planet in nasa accelerates its installation plans obsession. But their dispute in June. as well as geopolitical pressures, could play in favor of nasa lunar projects, as this announcement suggests.