Scientists have issued an urgent warning as President Donald Trump fast-tracks NASA’s surprising plan to put nuclear reactors on the moon.
Experts are now alerting people to the risks that may come with putting weapons into space.
Speaking to the Independent, national security analyst, nuclear expert and author Joseph Cirincione, said: “The whole proposal is cock-eyed and runs against the sound management of a space program that is now being starved of money.”
This won’t be the first nuclear reactor to be sent into orbit as the first one was launched all the way back in 1965.
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However, it looks a new 100-kilowatt reactor set to be based on the moon could be used to power the base, according to NASA and might be responsible for fueling missions to Mars in the future.
Interim NASA Administrator, Sean Duffy, who is also President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, is fast-tracking the plans, with hopes that it will be ready to launch to the lunar surface as early as 2030.
This comes after both China and Russia announced a joint plan to build their own reactor to place on the moon by 2035.
Duffy seemed to reveal the motivation behind the Trump administration’s impatience over the US reactor as he said: “The first country to do so could potentially declare a ‘keep-out’ zone which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first.”
Cirincione shared his thoughts on the timeline, adding: “It was in the last Trump administration that NASA had put out a press release, they had a YouTube video, they had these announcements about how they’re going to develop these small, modular nuclear reactors for use on the moon, and it was going to be ready by 2026. Oh, really? So, where is it?”
The scientist went on to share that he believes the reactor will actually take up to 20 years before it reaches the moon.
Dr. Kathryn Huff, who is a former nuclear energy official in the US Department of Energy, and a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, wrote in a statement: “The 2030 target does not align well with recent budgetary trends… Accelerating the FSP program could come at the expense of other critical priorities, including earth science, climate observation and space-based weather forecasting – all core elements of NASA’s public-serving mission.”
It looks like a new space race is on the horizon.