The White House is moving to fast-track nuclear power development in space, laying out a detailed road map with firm agency roles and time frames to put reactors on the moon and in orbit within the next decade.
The new guidelines build on President Donald Trump’s executive order to ensure space superiority, which set a goal of deploying space-based nuclear reactors by 2030.
The push builds on an announcement in August 2025 that NASA would develop a lunar reactor as part of an effort to compete with China and Russia in an intensifying space race, with the new guidelines bringing this goal closer to reality.
The directive establishes the National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power, a coordinated effort led by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
“Nuclear power will make sustained human presence in space possible,” OSTP Director Michael Kratsios said on social media. “We will survive the
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