Russia plans nuclear power plant on moon within decade
While major powers seek to explore Earth’s only natural satellite, Russia plans to build a nuclear power plant and a Russia-China joint research station on the Moon to support its lunar space program within the next decade.
Russia has prided itself as a leading power in space exploration since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in 1961, but in recent years it has fallen behind the United States and, increasingly, China.
Russia’s ambitions suffered a major blow in August 2023 when the unmanned Luna-25 mission crashed into the moon’s surface while attempting to land, revolutionizing the launch of spacecraft by Elon Musk, which was once exclusive to Russia.
Russian state space company Roscosmos said in a statement that it plans to establish a Lunar power plant by 2036 and has signed a contract with the Lavochkin Association aviation company for this.
Roscosmos did not explicitly say that the facility would be nuclear, but it was stated that participants included Russian state nuclear company Rosatom and Russia’s leading nuclear research institute, the Kurchatov Institute.
Roscosmos said the facility’s purpose is to power Russia’s lunar program, including rovers, an observatory and infrastructure for the joint Russia-China International Lunar Research Station.
“The project is an important step towards the creation of a permanently functioning scientific lunar station and the transition from one-off missions to a long-term lunar exploration program,” Roscosmos said. he said.
Dmitry Bakanov, head of Roscosmos, said in June that one of the company’s goals is to build a nuclear power plant on the moon and explore Venus, known as Earth’s “sister” planet.
The Moon, which is 384,400 km away from our planet, provides a more stable climate by softening the Earth’s wobble on its axis.
It also causes tides in the world’s oceans.
Russia is not the only one with such plans.
In August, NASA announced its intention to place a nuclear reactor on the moon by the first quarter of fiscal 2030.
“We’re in a race to the moon, we’re in a race to the moon with China. We need the energy to have a base on the moon,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said when asked about the plans in August.
He added that the United States is currently behind in the race to reach the moon.
He said that energy is necessary to sustain life on the Moon and from there to reach Mars.
International rules prohibit the placing of nuclear weapons in space, but there is no ban on placing nuclear energy sources in space, provided that certain rules are followed.
Some space analysts predicted a lunar gold rush: NASA says there are estimates of one million tonnes of Helium-3 (a rare isotope of helium on Earth) on the moon.
Rare earth metals such as scandium, yttrium and 15 lanthanides, which are used in smartphones, computers and advanced technologies, are also present on the moon, according to Boeing’s research.
