Moon Mission: Powering the Lunar Surface (Download)

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NASA took “a second giant step for man,” on July 25, 2023, opening the door for humans to “live off the land” on the Moon. It’s awarding several contracts toward the construction of landing pads, habitats, and roads on the lunar surface, using nuclear power for energy.

The moon that NASA is striving to visit isn’t the same moon that Neil Armstrong and other Apollo astronauts left behind some 50 years ago. Journeying to the Moon and returning to Earth was the first effort achieved during the Apollo era in the 1960s and early 1970s. Now, during the next phase, it intends to build a sustainable presence that will focus on the Lunar South Pole, where water exists in the form of ice.