The 2030 Race for a Moon Reactor

The US’s federally funded space program has been struggling of late. With the recent cancellation of the Mars Sample Return mission, and mass layoffs / resignations taking place at NASA, the general sense of a lack of morale at the agency is palpable, even from a distance. Jared Isaacman, the billionaire software entrepreneur and rocket enthusiast who was recently confirmed as NASA administrator during his second confirmation hearing, hopes to change that, and one of his priorities is pushing the Artemis missions for a permanent human presence on the Moon. However, at least one big technical hurdle remains before being able to do so – how to power a base during the two week long lunar night. A recent press release describes how NASA, and another branch of the federal government (the Department of Energy – DoE) hope to solve that problem – with a lunar-ready nuclear fission reactor