China
has revealed they are considering plans to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon, in order to power a potential research facility the country is reportedly planning with
Russia.
China has
ramped up its space program
in recent decades, promising to put astronauts on the Moon by 2030. The country’s Chang’e-8 mission scheduled for 2028 would potentially lay the groundwork for a permanent manned lunar base.
During a presentation given by a senior government official on Wednesday in Shanghai, the 2028 mission’s Chief Engineer Pei Zhaoyu said the proposed lunar base could also rely on large-scale solar arrays, pipelines and cables for heating and electricity.
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Russia’s space agency announced last year that it was planning to build a nuclear reactor on the Lunar surface in conjunction with the
China National Space Administration
(CNSA) to power the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
The inclusion of a proposed lunar nuclear reactor in China’s space presentation to a group of officials from 17 countries and international organizations suggests that Beijing is in favor of the reactor, despite the government not officially saying so.
“An important question for the ILRS is power supply, and in this Russia has a natural advantage, when it comes to nuclear power plants, especially sending them into space, it leads the world, it is ahead of the United States,” Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, told
Reuters
on the sidelines of the conference. “After little progress on talks over a space-based reactor in the past. I hope this time both countries can send a nuclear reactor to the moon.”
China’s timeline for putting an astronaut on the moon collides with NASA’s more ambitious and advanced Artemis program that aims to put an American back on the moon in December of this year.
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China said last year that a “basic model” of the ILRS could be built by 2035, with the Moon’s south pole as its core. China has said in the past they will create the “555 Project,” will aim to invite 50 countries, 500 international scientific research institutions, and 5,000 overseas researchers to join the ILRS.
China and Russia’s collaboration on the ILRS predate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but incentives for cooperation between Roscosmos and CNSA have increased since then, according to Chinese analysts.
