Washington: Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has directed the agency to fast-track plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon, reports CNN.
Expediting work to place a reactor on the lunar surface to help power moon exploration efforts would keep the United States ahead of China and Russia, both of which have “announced on at least three occasions” a joint effort to develop such a project by the mid-2030s, according to a directive dated July 31 and obtained by CNN.
If another country were to achieve this feat first, it could declare a “keep-out zone” that would effectively hold the US back from its goal of establishing a presence on the lunar surface through NASA’s Artemis programme.
The Artemis III mission, currently planned for 2027, is expected to return humans to the surface of the moon for the first time in more than five decades. But the programme still has several milestones in order to reach that target.
“We’re in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon,” Duffy told reporters at a news conference Tuesday on drones.
“And to have a base on the moon, we need energy.”
A nuclear reactor would assist with long stays on the moon, but the newly unveiled plans do not yet specify when a base could be built. Lunar surface power needs are at least 100kWe for long-term human operations, according to estimates cited by NASA.
