US EditionNASA Fast-Tracks 100 kW Lunar Reactor Program With 2030 Launch Target
UNITED STATES, AUG 6 – NASA aims to deploy a 100-kilowatt lunar nuclear reactor by 2030 to ensure continuous power through long lunar nights and counter China-Russia space competition, officials said.
- NASA directed by acting administrator Sean Duffy on July 31, 2025, to fast-track a nuclear reactor for the Moon with a 2030 launch target.
- This directive responds to an international lunar race, particularly China and Russia's mid-2030s plan for a joint automated lunar nuclear power station.
- The plan calls for a reactor generating at least 100 kilowatts, transportable by a heavy lander with a 15 metric ton payload capacity, to power sustainable lunar bases.
- Duffy warned that the first nation to deploy a reactor could claim a "keep-out zone" on the Moon, potentially restricting others' operations, including the US Artemis program.
- If successful, NASA's initiatives could enhance energy technologies for lunar and Martian missions, develop new space stations to succeed the International Space Station by 2030, and maintain American leadership in the face of global space competition.
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Why Trump must build a nuclear reactor on the Moon
Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation whom President Trump appointed last month as temporary leader of NASA, has issued a directive to fast-track efforts to put a nuclear reactor on the moon. “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,” he says.A small nuclear reactor on the moon is a good idea, but the di…
NASA Aims for U.S. to Be First to Put Nuclear Reactor on the Moon: ‘To Have a Base on the Moon, We Need Energy’
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the interim NASA administrator, proclaimed that the U.S. needs to ‘get our act together’ when it comes to the ongoing race to the moon and Mars. To do this, Duffy wants the U.S. to put a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030.
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webpressglobal.comUS In Race With China To Claim "Best" Part Of Moon: NASA Chief
The United States is in a new space race with China to claim the most resource-rich part of the moon, NASA's interim administrator Sean Duffy said while announcing plans to install a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface by 2030.
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