Can nuclear reactors be built on the moon?
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NASA has its sights on something that sounds like science fiction: building a nuclear reactor on the moon. The space agency says its gearing up to offer contracts to companies to begin developing the technologies required to make lunar nuclear power a reality, with a target to launch the reactor by 2030.
Success would mean big things for space exploration and our chances at a permanent human presence on the moon, but there’s another story here. If lunar nuclear becomes real, it will be because manufacturers here on earth made it so. From advanced alloys to precision machining, manufacturers are at the heart of making NASA’s ambitious vision come to life.
Even more: if nuclear’s momentum continues—on the moon, sure, but also on earth—it would spell a long runway of opportunity for the companies that design, produce, and refine the required materials and systems.
Why Put Nuclear On The Moon At All?
Let’s back up. What is the U.S.—and Russia and China, who have similar ambitions—planning to accomplish by putting nuclear on the moon? First of all, doing so gives us the ability to establish a lasting presence on the most resource-rich portion of the moon. “There’s a certain part of the moon that everyone knows is the best,” says NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. “We have ice there. We have sunlight there. We want to get there first and claim that for America.”
To date, solar paneling has been the main source of energy for spacecraft on the moon, but it comes with limits, because sunlight disappears for two weeks at a time. So NASA’s directive, known as the Artemis mission, is to put a nuclear reactor with enough electric output to power the equivalent of 70 to 80 homes.
It would involve shipping raw materials for assembly by astronauts on the surface. And there are plenty of logistical and engineering hurdles still to clear. Among them: safely getting the reactor up there and figuring out how to handle it when it reaches the end of its lifespan, likely around 80 years from now, as an engineering professor and former Biden administration advisor told NPR.
The Manufacturing Challenge
NASA’s reactor won’t materialize out of thin air. It will be built by manufacturers here on earth.
It will have to withstand days that reach 250 degrees and nights that plummet to minus-200, and it will have to be built to perform where there’s no atmosphere, meaning no water to cool the reactors and discharge the excess heat. Instead, “nuclear reactors on the moon need to radiate their excess heat directly into space,” NPR reports, using “large radiators that can help them dissipate the heat load.”
Manufacturers in metals, composites, and materials science could be central to this development. Every part, one would assume, must survive rocket launch vibrations, weigh little enough for payload limits, and operate reliably without human oversight. So, precision matters, and processes like machining and additive manufacturing could be crucial.
The technologies already exist, but it will be a challenge to bring everything together and ensure safe transport and setup. None of it will happen without a tightly woven supply chain across aerospace, nuclear, and advanced materials. NASA’s contracts aren’t just primed to land with the largest operations; regional manufacturers are poised to contribute, as well, and could gain an entry point into a truly historic project.
Implications For Manufacturing Here On Earth
Eventually, the larger opportunity may exist closer to us. With any luck, NASA’s program will accelerate adoption of small modular reactors (SMRs) here on earth. Already, more than $15 billion in public and private financing is flowing into the SMR space, according to Canary Media, with dozens of reactors in active development.
These reactors are factory-built and transportable, and early markets are starting to take shape. Data centers, for instance, are looking to ease their strain on the grid related to AI’s rise, and they see SMRs as a clean, dedicated power source of the future. Manufacturers and industrial parks could follow, and if they do, it’ll revolutionize the way we think about energy at our plants.
If the lunar project proves reactors can safely run in harsher conditions than earth, it bolsters the case for deployment here. Manufacturers engaged early stand to shape a new category of products.
The Future Of Nuclear
This isn’t just a space story—it’s an energy story. Nuclear power on the moon could be the spark that helps modular nuclear become practical and scalable here on earth, with massive implications for manufacturers.
The race is real. Russia, China, and others are similarly targeting deployment by the end of the decade. But so is the opportunity. Companies that help NASA succeed today could find themselves leading tomorrow’s clean energy economy. That’s a moonshot worth paying attention to.