Why the US Is Racing to Build a Nuclear Reactor on the Moon

NASA has set a 2030 deadline to build a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor on the moon. It’s an ambitious but potentially achievable goal that could transform space exploration, experts tell WIRED.

NASA is fast-tracking a plan to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030 under a new directive from the agency’s interim administrator Sean Duffy.

The plan revives a decades-old dream of scaling up nuclear power in space, a shift that would unlock futuristic possibilities and test legal and regulatory guidelines about the use of extraterrestrial resources and environments.

Duffy, who also serves as President Donald Trump’s secretary of transportation, framed being first to put a reactor on the lunar surface as a must-win contest in a new moon race. “Since March 2024, China and Russia have announced on at least three occasions a joint effort to place a reactor on ...