A new directive from the acting NASA chief Sean Duffy, who is also the US transport minister, states that it is necessary for the agency to act quickly.
It's about winning the second space race, says a high-ranking but unnamed source at NASA to Politico.
The idea of building a reactor on the moon is not new, but the new directive states that the agency should obtain proposals from the industry for a nuclear reactor of 100 kilowatt that will be launched no later than 2030.
The reactor is intended to enable future manned moon landings and enable manned space travel to Mars – a goal that China also shares.
Duffy, who Trump appointed as temporary NASA chief in July, has also given the agency a directive on a faster timeline to replace the aging International Space Station (ISS), with the goal of a new station in orbit no later than 2030.
