Good evening. The star wars are underway, but this time it’s an empire that has a new hope. NASA interim administrator Sean Duffy last week fast-tracked plans to build a US nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030, with the goal of beating other countries attempting to do the same thing to the punch, according to Politico.
"Since March 2024, China and Russia have announced on at least three occasions a joint effort to place a reactor on the Moon by the mid-2030s," Duffy said in a directive viewed by Politico. "The first country to do so could potentially declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first."
- Spinning up a power source located on the Moon is the first required step to build and operate a lunar base (or bases), the stated goal of many countries, including the US, China, Russia, South Korea, and India.
Elsewhere…Space will soon cease to exist on the International Space Station (ISS), a football field-sized orbiting joint project between 15 nations that’s scheduled to be decommissioned by 2030. Duffy this week also directed NASA to expedite the construction of its US-built replacement, an undertaking that carries a projected price tag of $3+ billion.
Fun fact: The OG ISS is credited to be the most expensive thing ever built, with an estimated cost of ~$150 billion.
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