Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has directed the agency to fast-track plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon. “We’re in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon,” he told a news conference. “And to have a base on the moon, we need energy. And some of the key locations on the moon, we’re going to get solar power, but this fission technology is critically important, and so we’ve spent hundreds of million [of] dollars studying.
He added: Energy is important, and if we’re going to be able to sustain life on the moon, to then go to Mars, this technology is critically important…. We have to marshal all of our resources, all of our focus on going to the moon, which is what we’re going to do.” He noted that the reactor will have to generate 100 kilowatts of output.
According to the directive:
- Within 30 days, the Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) must designate a Fission Surface Power (FSP) Program Executive, who will serve as the empowered and accountable official for end-to-end execution of the FSP effort, including procurement, technology integration, interagency coordination, and performance oversight.
- Within 60 days, ESDMD must issue a new procurement Request for Proposal (RFP) to industry.
- The FSP project will not exceed 15 full time engineer equivalents on a yearly basis and a maximum of 10% overhead cost to manage.
- The RFP will feature: The ability to award to two providers within six months of the release of the RFP with the option to down-select to one provider; provision of a demonstration capability with minimum 100kWe power output, assumed use of a heavy class lander (up to 15 tonnes), and readiness to launch by the first quarter of FY30.
- Flexibility to NASA to award contract value based on proposed industry capability, potential industry cost-sharing and availability of funds.
- Payments via milestones with no less than 25% of the total contract value paid after the successful checkout and delivery of the FSP flight system.
According to a memo released by Duffy, “Fission surface power (FSP) is both an essential and sustainable segment of the lunar and Mars power architectures for future human space exploration missions. To properly advance this critical technology to be able to support a future lunar economy, high power energy generation on Mars, and to strengthen our national security in space, it is imperative the agency move quickly.”
Duffy also issued a second directive that could accelerate efforts to create a commercial space station to replace the International Space Station. NASA will seek more proposals within 60 days, and at least two companies will be awarded a contract within six months of the agency’s request for proposals, according to the directive. The order changes the way the agency awards contracts by adding some flexibility.
This is Duffy’s first big initiative since he was appointed NASA’s interim administrator in July. This was in addition to his position as Secretary of Transportation. This came after President Trump pulled his initial nominee, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, days before his confirmation vote. In late July, NASA said that nearly 4,000 of its 18,000 employees would leave the agency through two rounds of deferred resignation programmes.
There has been some criticism of the plan. Kathryn Huff, a former nuclear energy official at the Department of Energy (DOE) who is now a professor of nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the 2030 timeline was unrealistic.
“It’s just a very aggressive, frankly unrealistic timeline for something that is good and should happen. My understanding is that its intent was to power an outpost. So it feels a little silly to do so without an outpost.” She added that, in addition to the necessary work to design and build a lunar reactor, navigating the regulatory approvals for launching one would take a couple of years.
The New York Times cited a NASA official as saying the 2030 date aims to provide focus and motivation. ” Urgency is the name of the game. If we put it too far in the future, we’re not going to achieve it, right?”
In 2022, NASA, along with the Idaho National Laboratory, awarded contracts for initial design studies for a lunar reactor that would produce 40 kW. Those efforts were led by Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse, and a collaboration between two startups, Intuitive Machines and X-energy. All three studies failed to fit their reactor designs within the goal of weighing less than 6 tonnes.
However, according to the New York Times, both Intuitive Machines and Lockheed Martin are expected to bid for the NASA contracts. Other companies could also submit proposals.
