Russia will rise in the Luna a nuclear power plant in 10 years. A pharaonic megaproject with which it not only aspires to once again be the great space power that the USSR was, but also to lead the “Star Wars” of the 21st century.
Moscow often prides itself on being a leading power in space exploration. However, it is an image built more on nostalgia than on current events, evoking the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarinthe first human being to travel into space in 1961, and the times when the USSR competed with the USA for taking the lead in their space program.
The truth is that, in recent decadesRussia has fallen behind the United States and, increasingly, China in space exploration. In addition, other actors have strongly entered space research, such as Japan, Europe or India, and even the private initiative is making multimillion-dollar investmentsespecially with the arrival of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company.
Russia’s ambitions suffered a severe blow in August 2023, when its unmanned Luna-25 mission crashed into the surface of Earth’s natural satellite while attempting to land, while Musk revolutionized the launch of space vehicles, which was once a Russian specialty.
Now, the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos reported in a statement that plans to build a power plant on the Moon by 2036for which it has signed a contract with the aerospace company Lavochkin Association.
Although Roscosmos did not explicitly state that the plant would be nuclear power, it did indicate that participants in this project include the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and the Kurchatov Institute, Russia’s main nuclear research institute.
The objective of this plant will be fuel Russia’s lunar programincluding explorers, an observatory and the infrastructure of the future International Lunar Research Station that it will share with China.
“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 stressed.
The head of the Russian state space corporation, Dmitry Bakanov, already acknowledged last June that one of the agency’s objectives was build a nuclear power plant on the Moon and explore Venus.
The US also looks at the Moon
Russia is not the only power with such plans. In August, the NASA also declared its intention to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon for the first quarter of 2030.
“We are 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.”declared then the Secretary of Transportation of the United States, Sean Duffy.
He added that nuclear energy was essential for life to be maintained on the Moon and, hence, that Humans reach Mars.
Although international standards prohibit placing nuclear weapons in space, There is no prohibition on creating nuclear energy sourcesas long as certain rules are respected.
In addition to this nuclear reactor, the Trump Administration plans to set foot on the Moon again with astronauts and use it as power platform against China deploying advanced military capabilities there.
Its new space directive sets the goal of the United States returning to land on the moon with a manned mission in 2028.
This same strategy proposes building an “outpost” or permanent lunar base around 2030, linked to the program Artemis II but with a clear twist: greater role of the private sector (especially SpaceX) and a strong component of strategic supremacy against China and Russia, not just scientific exploration.
NASA’s Artemis II project envisions a 3D-printed bunker on the Moon.
NASA
In parallel, Trump links these lunar plans to a vision of broader “spatial superiority”, with a record Defense budget and a growing militarization of the cislunar environment.
The idea is that the Moon is not only a laboratory towards Mars, but the nucleus of a new architecture of power military, economic and technological, in which the United States maintains the lead in the face of the accelerated advance of the Chinese space program, which has also set objectives for a manned moon landing and a base at the South Pole by 2030.
A lunar gold rush
Some space analysts have predicted a sort of lunar gold rush.
The NASA estimates that the satellite hides a million tons of helium-3, a rare helium isotope on Earth.
Los rare earth metalsused in smartphones, computers and advanced technologies, are also present on the Moon, including scandium, yttrium and the 15 lanthanides, according to Boeing research.
Image of the far side of the Moon.
NASA
It also contains frozen water in craters at the south pole, key to producing oxygen and fuel in situ, which greatly makes future manned missions cheaper and allows it to be used as a “gas station” and workshop to go further into space.
It is also a geopolitical and military advantage point: From the Moon, communications, surveillance and navigation systems can be tested that give an advantage over the Earth, and whoever has a stable presence there will be able to influence the norms and rules of the use of space in the coming decades.
For this reason, the United States, China, Russia and more and more private companies see it as a “testing ground” where part of the technological, economic and political leadership of the 21st century will be decided.