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Space capacities have grown significantly in the last several years, with NASA’s Artemis II mission taking astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen to the Moon in the first lunar mission in more than 50 years.
Now, the US space agency is eyeing an even more ambitious goal: to put nuclear reactors on the Moon by 2030 through its Fission Surface Power Project, with plans to launch a medium-power reactor into orbit by 2028.
For this tall order, NASA will have to join forces with the US Department of Energy and the Department of Defence.
The White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) has already shared new guidelines for federal agencies to develop a roadmap for space nuclear technology.
“Nuclear power in space will give us the sustained electricity, heating, and propulsion essential to a permanent presence on the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” OSTP said in a post on X.
Why solar power is limited in space
This shift is mainly because solar power and other traditional energy sources will not be sufficient to reliably sustain long-term human settlements on the Moon or other planets, such as Mars.
The lunar night is a key reason for this, as a single night on the Moon lasts around 14 days on Earth. During this time, solar panels cannot be used, and batteries lack sufficient capacity to support an entire base through the cold, dark periods.
Relying solely on solar power also makes it harder for programmes like Artemis to explore permanently shadowed regions such as the lunar south pole, which never sees sunlight but contains valuable water ice.
In contrast, nuclear reactors provide mostly continuous, abundant power for years through nuclear fission, regardless of weather, sunlight or location. Nuclear electric propulsion can also help spacecraft carry out complex, long-duration missions without risking fuel depletion.
“The time has come for America to get underway on nuclear power in space,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman posted on X.
The Fission Surface Power Project is expected to have a design capacity of 40-100 kilowatts of electricity, which should be enough to sustain a small lunar habitat with scientific labs and resource-extraction equipment for several years.
This project is expected to help the US strengthen its space technology position relative to China and Russia, while providing a lunar test bed to advance technologies for future crewed missions to Mars.
The system is expected to operate autonomously with minimal maintenance required by astronauts, while remaining scalable and modular. It will have to account for applications which can support both space propulsion and future life on the Moon.