NASA chief Sean Duffy confirmed Tuesday plans to construct a nuclear reactor on the moon’s surface.
"We're in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the Moon. And to have a base on the moon, we need energy," said Duffy, who is also acting as the U.S. transportation secretary. "This (nuclear) fission technology is critically important, and so we've spent hundreds of millions of dollars studying it."
"We are now going to move beyond studying," he added. "Let's start to deploy our technology to move to actually make this a reality."
News outlet Politico carried reports of the plans on Monday, citing documents suggesting that the U.S. space agency intends to solicit concrete proposals from industry within 60 days for a 100-kilowatt reactor set to go into operation by 2030.
The plan comes against the backdrop of intensifying competition with China, which is aiming to launch its first crewed Moon mission around the same time.
The NASA document warns that the first nation to deploy a working reactor could "declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States," according to Politico.
A reactor would provide the stable power supply needed for future moon missions, especially during the roughly two-week lunar night when solar energy is unavailable.
The U.S. is aiming to return astronauts to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Under its Artemis program, NASA plans to land a crew on the lunar surface in 2027.
However, the timeline has already been pushed back multiple times, and it remains unclear whether U.S. President Donald Trump will continue to support the effort.
