Is the Moon about to get its own nuclear power plant?
That’s the bold plan Nasa is fast-tracking—to plant a working nuclear reactor on the lunar surface by 2030.
Why? Because solar panels just don’t cut it in a place where two weeks of darkness follow two weeks of light.
“This isn’t just desirable, it’s inevitable,” says Dr. Sungwoo Lim, a space systems expert at the University of Surrey.
Acting Nasa chief Sean Duffy, appointed by Trump, says the U.S. must move fast.
Or risk China and Russia carving out “keep-out zones” on the Moon.
His letter, first reported by The New York Times, urges commercial companies to pitch reactor designs.
The designs must produce at least 100 kilowatts of power.
But Is That the Whole Picture?
That’s less than a single wind turbine on Earth.
But scientists are skeptical. “You can’t power a Moon base if you don’t even have the ride to get there.”
“Warns Dr. Simeon Barber from the Open University.”
Budget cuts, safety concerns, and political motives are all raising eyebrows.
Is this about science—or just another Moon race dressed in nuclear ambition?
One thing’s clear: if we’re going to the Moon to stay, we’ll need more than just rocket fuel.
We’ll need power that doesn’t go dark when the sun does.
