US In Race With China To Claim "Best" Part Of Moon: NASA Chief
The United States is in a new space race with China to claim the most resource-rich part of the moon, NASA's interim administrator Sean Duffy said while announcing plans to install a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface by 2030.
"We're in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon. And to have a base on the moon, we need energy," he said Addressing a press conference on Tuesday (local time) titled "Unleashing American Drone Dominance" held by the US Department of Transportation, which Duffy also leads.
Duffy explained that energy is the key to setting up a permanent base, and that's why he wants a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor placed on the moon within the next five years. He said such a reactor would generate about the same amount of electricity that a typical US household uses in 3.5 days.
The NASA administrator also said that there is a specific region on the moon that is especially valuable, and that both the US and China are eyeing it.
"There's a certain part of the moon that everyone knows is the best," he said. "We have ice there. We have sunlight there. We want to get there first and claim that for America" he said.
Water ice and continuous sunlight make certain parts of the moon, especially near the south pole, ideal for setting up a permanent base. These conditions are important for both sustaining human life and generating power.
Duffy also addressed concerns about launching nuclear material into space. He made it clear that the reactor would not be active when launched from Earth.
"We're not launching this live. That's obviously if you have any questions about that, no, we're not launching it live," he said.
While comparing the Artemis lunar program to the historic Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s, Duffy admitted that NASA's current efforts haven't captured public attention in the same way.
"A lot of people don't know even what Artemis is. Everyone knew what Apollo was. We all knew. The whole world knew what Apollo was. We were going to the moon, Artemis is, we're going back," Duffy said.
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