Overview
- The directive mandates a program executive be appointed within 30 days; industry proposals solicited within 60 days; contracts awarded to two providers within six months.
- NASA aims for a late-2029 lunar launch of a 100 kW small modular reactor to provide continuous power through two-week lunar nights.
- Proposed funding allocates $350 million for fiscal 2026 and increases to $500 million annually from fiscal 2027 to support reactor development.
- Three 2022 Fission Surface Power grant consortia—Lockheed Martin/BWXT/Creare, Westinghouse/Aerojet Rocketdyne and X-Energy/Maxar/Boeing—are competing for full-scale development contracts.
- The push for lunar nuclear power responds to China–Russia plans for a joint reactor by the mid-2030s and seeks to secure US influence near water-ice deposits under the Outer Space Treaty.