China, Russia planning to build nuclear plant on the Moon to power lunar station
China and Russia are planning to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon to power their joint lunar research station.The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), being planned jointly by China and Russia, will need power that will have to be produced alternatively on the Moon to ensure the smooth and long-term functioning of the research base.China aims to become a major space power and land astronauts on the moon by 2030, and its planned Chang'e-8 mission for 2028 would lay the groundwork for constructing a permanent, manned lunar base.advertisement
"An important question for the ILRS is power supply, and in this Russia has a natural advantage, when it comes to nuclear power plants, especially sending them into space, it leads the world, it is ahead of the United States," Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.The lunar base's energy supply could also depend on large-scale solar arrays, and pipelines and cables for heating and electricity built on the moon's surface.Russia's space agency Roscosmos said last year it planned to build a nuclear reactor on the moon's surface with the China National Space Administration (CNSA) by 2035 to power the ILRS.The inclusion of the nuclear power unit in a Chinese space official's presentation at a conference for officials from the 17 countries and international organisations that make up the ILRS suggests Beijing supports the idea, although it has never formally announced it.
Beijing supports the idea, although it has never formally announced it. (Photo: AFP)
advertisementThe latest announcement comes even as Nasa struggles to get Artemis mission timeline sorted amid a new push to go to Mars under the new Trump administration backed by SpaceX chief Elon Musk.China's timeline to build an outpost on the moon's south pole coincides with NASA's more ambitious and advanced Artemis programme, which aims to put U.S. astronauts back on the lunar surface in December 2025.Wu said last year that a "basic model" of the ILRS, with the Moon's south pole as its core, would be built by 2035. In the future, China will create the "555 Project," inviting 50 countries, 500 international scientific research institutions, and 5,000 overseas researchers to join the ILRS.Researchers from Roscosmos also presented at the conference in Shanghai, sharing details about plans to look for mineral and water resources, including possibly using lunar material as fuel.
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