Russia plans to build a lunar nuclear power plant by 2036 to support its space program and a Russian-Chinese research station amid a global moon race.
Russia plans to build a nuclear power plant on the moon within the next decade to power its lunar space program and support a joint Russian-Chinese research station, amid a heated race among major powers to explore the planet and exploit its resources.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos announced in a statement that it plans to build a lunar power station by 2036, adding that it has signed a contract with the Lavochkin Association to do so.
The Russian agency did not explicitly state that the planned station would be nuclear, but it indicated the involvement of the Russian nuclear energy corporation Rosatom and the Kurchatov Institute, a leading nuclear research institute, in the project, according to Reuters.
The Russian agency did not explicitly state that the planned station would be nuclear, but it indicated the involvement of the Russian nuclear energy corporation Rosatom and the Kurchatov Institute, a leading nuclear research institute, in the project, according to Reuters.
Russia used to pride itself on its status as a leading space exploration power since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space in 1961, but it has declined in recent decades as the United States and China have taken center stage.
Russia’s space exploration efforts suffered a major blow in August 2023 when its unmanned Luna 25 mission crashed into the moon during a landing attempt, while American billionaire Elon Musk and his company SpaceX revolutionized the launch of spacecraft that was once a Russian specialty.
Moscow is not the only one planning to build a station on the moon , as the American space agency NASA announced last August the construction of a nuclear reactor on the surface of the moon by the first quarter of 2030.
When asked about the plan in August, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said: "We are in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon, and to build a base on the moon we need energy."
He explained that the United States is lagging behind in exploring the moon, stressing that energy is essential to sustaining life on the planet's surface, and thus paving the way for humans to reach Mars.
International rules prohibit the deployment of nuclear weapons in space, but the ban does not include the construction of nuclear power plants in space as long as they comply with certain rules.
A space analyst predicted a fierce race among major powers to extract lunar resources. NASA says the moon's surface contains about one million tons of helium-3, a rare isotope of helium used in nuclear power production, along with rare metals used in smartphones, computers, and advanced technologies, including scandium and yttrium.
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