White House announces plan for nuclear reactors on the moon
The policy sets 30-, 60- and 90-day deadlines for NASA, the Pentagon and the Energy Department as it seeks low- to high-power reactor designs.
- On Tuesday, the White House released NSTM-3 directing NASA, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy to develop space nuclear power systems for potential launch as early as 2028.
- Aiming to maintain American dominance, the strategy addresses the burgeoning space race with adversaries like China and Russia while supporting sustained human presence on the moon and Mars.
- The guidance mandates parallel design competitions by NASA and the Defense Department, with the Department of Energy providing a 60-day assessment of nuclear industrial readiness.
- Agencies will pursue mission-enabling reactors including a mid-power variant ready by 2030, while the Pentagon will support NASA efforts to enable future high-power deployments in the 2030s.
- Despite past investments exceeding $20 billion without successful flights, the policy seeks to reverse this trend, though national security analyst Joseph Cirincione warns lunar reactor development could take up to 20 years.
25 Articles
25 Articles
White House Unveils Plan for Nuclear Moon Bases.
The U.S. is accelerating efforts to deploy nuclear reactors in space, aiming to secure space superiority against China and Russia and to make permanent human presence in Earth’s orbit and on the Moon a reality.PULSE POINTS WHAT HAPPENED: The White House has unveiled a detailed plan to prioritize the development of nuclear reactors for use in space, with the goal of deploying them on the Moon and in orbit by 2030, allowing a more permanent human …
White House Releases Space Nuclear Initiative
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued the National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power today. Attempts to develop space nuclear power and propulsion date back to the 1960s and the Trump Administration is trying once more to invigorate those efforts as part of the Moon-to-Mars goals and for national security uses. OSTP Director Michael Kratsios rolled out the Initiative in concert with the Space Foundation’s annua…
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