If the U.S. is ever going to keep people on the moon for real—not just for a brief visit—there’s one problem nobody can hand-wave away: power.
A moon base can’t rely on solar forever, and the White House’s latest roadmap is blunt about the workaround. Released on April 14, it directs NASA, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy to ready a moon-orbiting nuclear power system for launch as soon as 2028. The goal is a step-by-step ramp toward reactors on the lunar surface, with “high-power reactors” planned “as soon as the next decade.”
The reasoning is pretty straightforward, even if the engineering isn’t. A nuclear reactor uses fission to produce energy: a nuclear chain reaction splits atomic nuclei of a particular radioactive element and releases massive amounts of heat. Such a reactor would be necessary for any lengthy stay on the moon because each lunar day and each lunar night lasts about 14 Earth days. In practice, that means two weeks of darkness followed by two weeks of light—solar power just can’t be your dependable backbone.
And yes, it’s not just sunlight. There are (obviously) no fossil fuels, wind or flowing water on the moon to otherwise generate power, so nuclear it is. The plan leans on the idea that once you’re there, you need steady electricity all the way through the long dark stretches. Even before you get to “base life,” you have to survive the schedule of the place itself.
Under the directive, the government wants design competitions to move faster and prove the tech in space and on the lunar surface. NASA, the Pentagon, and the DOE are ordered to run design competitions “to enable near-term demonstration and use of low- to mid-power space reactors in orbit and on the lunar surface.” Eventually, the White House wants “high-power reactors” on the moon as soon as the next decade. That’s a big leap in ambition, but the roadmap tries to make it incremental.
NASA would start building a “mid-power” space reactor that would generate at least 20 kilowatts of electrical power and could operate on the moon. The agency is also set to work with outside companies to develop smaller reactors with the goal of launching them to the moon as soon as 2030. Later, those mini reactors would be scaled up, according to the plan. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has been ordered to brief the White House in 90 days on possible uses and payloads for nuclear systems that can function in space. It will also support NASA’s nuclear reactor work and run its own design competition. The DOE, for its part, is to provide knowledge and expertise in nuclear power, as well as doing its own research and development.
All of this is happening while NASA’s broader moon-and-beyond vision keeps moving. The policy comes about a month after NASA chief Isaacman laid out the space agency’s plans to develop nuclear power for its upcoming missions, including flights to Mars. “The clarity of nuclear power and propulsion policy in space is essential, because we want to ensure superiority even beyond the moon, when we get to Mars someday,” Isaacman said at the Tuesday event, noting that, over the past several decades, the agency has spent billions on nuclear power projects that haven’t gone anywhere.
NASA’s moon base roadmap has its own timeline, too. The agency released a “user’s guide” that sets out three phases during which it will develop the capabilities, infrastructure and resources needed for a moon base. Ultimately, the goal is to set up the moon as a jumping-off point for an eventual Mars mission. “The Moon Base will empower NASA to develop, test, and demonstrate needed technologies, capabilities, systems, and operational paradigms for future human missions to Mars,” the guide states. The guide also says “Realizing a continuous presence on the lunar surface will also provide experts with data needed to understand the impacts of long-duration spaceflight missions on human explorers.”
One day—maybe not soon enough for anyone craving deadlines—someone will step onto the lunar surface and take a breath that doesn’t smell like dust and metal in quite the same way we’re used to on Earth. For now, the White House plan is aiming to make sure there’s electricity waiting for them, even when the lunar sky goes dark for 14 straight Earth days. And then, well, you can feel the next question hovering right behind it: what counts as “high-power” once you’re living there?
Artemis II astronauts return to Houston after splashdown off San Diego