A Chinese Expert Questions The United States Capabilities To Operate A Nuclear Reactor On The Moon

The expert pointed out in an interview with the Russian Novosti Agency, “Completing construction and obtaining permits to operate a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030 is considered unrealistic for the United States.”

He said: “First, there are still outstanding engineering challenges, because the work of the nuclear reactor on the moon will not be exactly the same as its work on Earth.”

The expert noted that NASA relies heavily on private companies to carry out landing operations on the moon, but “currently no private American company has reliable enough capabilities to land on the moon.”

He continued: “SpaceX’s Starship vehicle exploded repeatedly during tests and still does not meet safety standards for transporting hundreds of kilograms of uranium fuel. Blue Origin’s Blue Moo lunar lander has not yet been used either, and its reliability is still in doubt.”

For his part, Russian astronaut Fyodor Yurchikhin indicated in previous statements to RIA Novosti that “the world is heading towards a fierce battle on the moon,” considering that it is unlikely that the moon will remain a region free of territorial claims in the future.

This comes in light of US President Donald Trump’s earlier announcement of an executive order entitled “Ensuring American Supremacy in Space,” which stipulates the deployment of a nuclear reactor on the surface of the moon by 2030. Within this plan, the United States seeks to send astronauts to the moon in 2028, in preparation for later starting to deploy a nuclear reactor there to support human presence and space activities.

Source: Novosti