During a video conference between NASA and the US Department of Energy, on the background of signing a memorandum of understanding between the 2 sides, President of NASA, James Braidenstein, stressed the necessity of establishing nuclear power plants on the moon.
James said: “We intend to return to the moon to stay there for a long time, which requires us to have nuclear energy on the moon, and a system to generate it. We are pleased that the Ministry of Energy helps us in establishing this system using nuclear energy.”
Braidenstein also stressed the importance of using nuclear energy to reclaim Mars. He said: “We need a nuclear or nuclear-electric missile engine that allows us to reduce the time required to reach Mars.” He expressed his hope that the Ministry of Energy could manufacture such an engine.
Earlier, NASA had tendered to build a 10-kilowatt nuclear reactor on the moon. The winner company will be announced early next year.
