NASA could place a powerful 500-kilowatt-electric (kWe) nuclear reactor on the Moon by the end of 2030, as part of a bold, high-stakes move aimed at securing long-term US energy dominance in space.
The system, developed under the space agency’s Fission Surface Power Initiative, would represent a significant leap beyond the radioisotope generators that have powered missions like Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, and the Mars rovers for decades.
According to NASA, in comparison to smaller systems, a 500-kWe reactor could continuously power lunar habitats, industrial equipment, communication arrays and even resource extraction operations.
“It might sound like science fiction, but it’s not,” Sebastian Corbisiero, the Space Reactor Initiative national technical director, explained. “It is very realistic and can significantly boost what humans can do in space because fission reactors provide a step increase in the amount of available power.”
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