On January 16, 2026, ANS reported that microreactor startup Nano Nuclear released a request for information to find organizations that could support development of its Loki micro modular reactor, with the explicit goal of eventual deployment on the lunar surface.[1] The RFI was described as broad and aimed at identifying partners for technology development, demonstration, system integration, and maturation activities aligned with NASA’s fission surface power objectives.[1] Nano said it wants input to shape its planning and commercial partnership strategy across systems integration, testing and qualification, manufacturing, deployment, and operations.[1]
The strategic significance is that lunar reactors are a core enabling technology for continuous baseload electricity through the two-week lunar night, independent of sunlight, which is essential for survival-grade habitats, cryogenic storage, construction, communications, and industrial processing on the Moon.[1] The article also ties the effort to President Trump’s December 2025 executive order “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” which calls for a human return to the Moon by 2028 through Artemis and initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030.[1] For the Ark, this is a concrete indicator that lunar nuclear power is moving from concept toward supplier ecosystem formation, which reduces one of the largest single points of failure for a durable lunar settlement.[1]
The Ark team should track whether Loki or competing systems secure NASA, DOE, or Artemis-linked contracts, because supplier qualification and test/qualification pathways will determine which reactor architectures are actually deployable on the Moon.[1] Priority research should focus on reactor mass, power level, thermal rejection, autonomous startup/shutdown, launch safety, and compatibility with surface infrastructure, because those variables decide whether a reactor can support a protected archive, habitation volume, and critical life-support loads.[1] The Ark should also map the partner ecosystem emerging from this RFI, especially companies capable of integration, manufacturing, deployment, and operations, since those firms may become the lunar nuclear supply chain for the next decade.[1]