Imagine streaming your favorite show or scrolling through your phone, all from the comfort of a home base on the moon. Within the next decade, that sci-fi dream will edge closer to reality – the question is, will an American, Chinese or Russian get there first?

For humans to settle and reside on the moon, scientists must solve two big problems: finding water and generating power. Now, the United States and China, with the help of Russia, are in a high-stakes race to crack the latter by building lunar nuclear reactors.

Both superpowers are now pushing ahead with plans to install fission power plants on the moon’s surface. America’s NASA is aiming to launch its Fission Surface Power (FSP) system by the early 2030s, while China and Russia plan to build a lunar reactor between 2033 and 2035.

But this is more than a race for power in space. It’s a contest over who will shape the rules — and reap the benefits — of the new frontier. On April 23, a top Chinese space official publicly discussed the country’s lunar nuclear ambitions for the first time.

Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, told Reuters he hopes China and Russia will jointly build a reactor to power the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), citing Russia’s global leadership in nuclear space tech.

“An important question for the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) is power supply. Russia has a natural advantage when it comes to nuclear power plants, especially when sending them into space. It leads the world and it is ahead of the US,” Wu said.

In previous interviews, he said China will send two unmanned spacecraft, Chang’e 7 and Chang’e 8, to the moon in 2026 and 2028, respectively. Chinese astronauts will land on the moon around 2030.

He said Chang’e 7 would search for ice on the moon’s South Pole while Chang’e 8 would set up telecommunication and energy systems there. He said lunar minerals can be melted at 1,400-1,500 degrees Celsius to produce bricks, which he said can be used to build houses for the ILRS project.

In a presentation in Shanghai cited by Reuters, the 2028 mission’s Chief Engineer Pei Zhaoyu showed that the lunar base’s energy supply could also depend on large-scale solar arrays, and pipelines and cables for heating and electricity built on the moon’s surface.

On March 5 last year, Yury Borisov, chief executive of Russia’s State Corporation for Space Activities (Roscosmos), the main successor to the Soviet space program, said Russia and China planned to install a nuclear reactor on the moon in 2033-2035. 

He said the reactor would have to be built by machines, and the necessary technological solutions were almost ready. He said solar power would not be enough to support lunar settlements. Borisov stressed that Russia had no plans to send nuclear weapons to space.

An academic paper said the ILRS will cover an area with a radius of up to six kilometers. The circle in the center with a radius of one kilometer will be a hub, while the main activity area will cover an area with a radius of three kilometers.

NASA roadmap in the lead

While China and Russia have set a target for a lunar nuclear plant, NASA has a full roadmap.

In 2022, NASA awarded three US$5 million contracts to teams led by Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and IX (a joint venture of Intuitive Machines and X-Energy) to build the FSP reactors. They tested their preliminary designs at the Idaho National Laboratory.

NASA specified that the reactor should stay under six metric tons and be able to produce 40 kilowatts (kw) of electrical power, ensuring enough for demonstration purposes and additional power available for running lunar habitats, rovers, backup grids or science experiments. In the US, 40 kw can, on average, provide electrical power for 33 households.

NASA will ask the industry to design the final reactor this year. In the early 2030s, NASA will send the reactor to the moon for a one-year demonstration, followed by nine years of operation. It will then modify the reactor’s design and send one to Mars.

In January this year, China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIEA) researchers Shi Yunda and Zhao Shouzhi published a paper titled “Study on nuclear design of long-life lunar surface nuclear reactor power supply based on annular fuel.”

They suggested minor changes that can reduce the American FSP reactor’s nuclear fuel (uranium-235) loading by 75% to 18.46 kilograms.

In 2017, Zhao and another CIAE researcher, Hu Gu, co-published a paper titled “Overview of space nuclear reactor power technology” in China’s Journal of Deep Space Exploration. 

“Space nuclear reactor power has clear and extensive military and civilian purposes,” they said. “This technology is one of the disruptive technologies.”

They admitted that the US and the Soviet Union had spent decades developing space-use nuclear reactors and had acquired many core technologies. They said China’s development of space nuclear reactor power should be unique. 

Wolf Amendment

The technology race on the moon is an extension of the geopolitical fight on Earth.

In October 2020, NASA launched the Artemis Accords, an international initiative to promote safe and sustainable space exploration. Fifty-four nations, including developed and emerging countries, have signed the accords.

In March 2021, China and Russia signed a Memorandum of Understanding to construct the ILRS. The duo planned to build the basic model of a permanent base on the moon by 2035 and an extended model in the 2040s.

So far, 17 countries and more than 50 international research institutions have joined the ILRS, mostly Russian and Chinese allies in the Global South. The European Space Agency (ESA) ruled out joining the ILRS after Russia invaded Ukraine. 

“The ILRS’ development trend is very good, but compared to the United States’ Artemis Accords, ours is much smaller in terms of countries because the US is always interfering in our cooperation with other countries, including Europe,” Wu told foreign media on April 23, without elaborating on the allegation.

Before this, Beijing had repeatedly criticized the US for passing the Wolf Amendment in 2011, which prohibited NASA from partnering with Chinese institutions.

In the past decade, China has pushed its lunar exploration program and sought support from Russia to boost its space technologies. However, Russia has reportedly been reluctant to share its rocket engines and nuclear technologies with China.

Russia faced a significant space race setback in August 2023 when its Luna-25 spacecraft crashed on the moon’s surface.

Bian Zhigang, deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), said on April 23 that lunar exploration activities are evolving from short-term missions to long-term construction, from single-craft exploration to multi-craft collaboration and from national missions to international cooperation.

Bian said the modes of exploration and cooperation are undergoing fundamental changes. He added that the ILRS will offer new opportunities and platforms for fostering global intelligence integration, technological innovation, inclusive cooperation and shared development.

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