The article reports that the United States, China, and Russia are developing lunar fission-power systems. NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy renewed cooperation in January 2026 and are targeting a reactor launch by December 2030; Lunar Reactor 1 is planned to produce approximately 20 kilowatts for about five years without human intervention. China’s International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), developed with Russia, targets a basic south-polar station by 2035. Russia’s proposed Selena reactor could produce up to 10 kilowatts, operate autonomously for roughly 10 years, and support the ILRS around 2036.[1][2][3]
Nuclear power removes dependence on uninterrupted sunlight, enabling heating, communications, life support, scientific equipment, autonomous robotics, and preservation systems during lunar night. For an Ark, the main advantages are continuous baseload power and reduced vulnerability to dust, eclipses, and solar-array degradation; the main risks are launch failure, reactor malfunction, radioactive contamination, thermal-management failure, and dependence on externally controlled geopolitical infrastructure. These systems remain development goals, not operating lunar installations.[1][5][6]
The Ark team should treat fission power as a core architecture track: monitor NASA’s 2030 reactor programme, Selena and ILRS milestones through 2036, reactor fuel choices such as HALEU, south-polar exclusion and safety zones, and international rules governing nuclear installations. Research a redundant power architecture combining multiple independently shielded reactors, solar generation, energy storage, passive shutdown, remote servicing, and physical separation from archive vaults; size the initial design against at least five years of autonomous operation and plan for later ten-year-class systems.[2][3][6]