NYT: A New Moon Race Has Begun.

The US wants to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, faster than Russia and China.

The US is accelerating efforts to place a nuclear reactor on the moon, interim NASA chief and US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has issued a directive to that effect. Accelerating the development of nuclear power is part of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration's efforts to focus NASA's attention on manned spaceflight, writes The New York Times.

"To truly advance this critical technology - both to support a future lunar economy and to generate power on Mars and bolster national security in space - the agency must act quickly," Duffy said.

In the directive, he cites If it happens before the U.S. does, China and Russia "could potentially declare a closed zone," which would limit U.S. capabilities, the Statesman warned.

The document requires that a NASA official be appointed within 30 days to oversee the project and that a solicitation for proposals from private companies be issued within 60 days. The installed reactor must generate at least 100 kilowatts of electricity - and be ready for launch in late 2029.

If a day on Earth lasts 24 hours, a lunar day is 29.5 Earth days. Two weeks of uninterrupted sunlight are followed by two weeks of darkness.

Such harsh conditions reportedly make it difficult for spacecraft or a lunar base to survive using only solar panels and batteries. NASA and the Sino-Russian alliance have focused on exploring the moon's south pole, where the sun barely rises above the horizon and the bottoms of some craters are permanently in shadow.

NASA has funded nuclear reactor research in recent years, including three $5 million contracts awarded in 2022 to companies that developed the initial designs. Those models were more compact from what is needed now - 40 kilowatts (vs. 100) of power and less than six tons of weight.

It is not yet clear, however, what exactly will power this reactor.

"The first American return to the moon under the Artemis program is scheduled for 2027, but many experts doubt that timeline is realistic. Key components - including SpaceX's Starship landing module - are still under development," the reporters report.

They emphasize that a nuclear reactor would be particularly useful for long missions on the moon, especially during the two-week night, but NASA has not yet specified when a permanent base might be built.

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