To re-establish its old dominance in the world of space, Russia has made a very shocking and ambitious announcement. Russia is now going to establish a high-power nuclear plant on the surface of the moon by 2036. This plant will provide continuous energy to long-duration missions to the Moon and the proposed International Lunar Research Station. The responsibility of this huge project has been taken up by the Russian space agency ‘Roscosmos’ and for this, an important government agreement has also been signed with the aerospace company ‘Lavochkin Association’.
Important agreement signed between Roscosmos and Lavochkin, preparations for spacecraft design and infrastructure will start from 2025
To turn this mission into reality, the duration of the contract signed between Roscosmos and Lavochkin has been fixed from 2025 to 2036. During this period, scientists and engineers will have many big goals in front of them. This includes designing special spacecraft for the lunar power plant, carrying out rigorous ground tests on Earth, carrying out test flights and finally building the entire infrastructure on the rough surface of the Moon. This plant will supply electricity to the research station (ILRS) being built jointly by Russia and China. This will help the rover, scientific observatory and communication system present there to work without interruption.
Solar panels fail during the 336-hour long night of the moon, hence nuclear energy will become the lifeline of the mission.
Generating electricity on the Moon is not as easy as on Earth. There one night lasts for about 336 hours (about 14 days). Due to darkness for so long, normal solar panels stop working, putting the mission at risk of stalling. This nuclear plant of Russia will be a permanent solution to this problem. This plant will generate electricity continuously, so that the base on the moon will be able to remain operational throughout the year. Russia’s nuclear company Rosatom and leading institutions like Kurchatov Institute are also involved in this project, which will ensure that the nuclear reactor based power system there works safely and effectively.
Trying to save its credibility after the failure of Luna-25, preparing to pave the way for Mars mission with China.
After the crash of ‘Luna-25’ in the year 2023, questions were raised across the world on Russia’s space capabilities. Now this Nuclear Power Project is a big opportunity for Russia to regain its lost prestige. This step has been taken to strengthen Russia’s hold in the ongoing ‘space race’ between superpowers like America and China. The ILRS base that Russia and China are planning will not be limited to the moon only. In the future, this base will serve as a logistics hub for missions to Mars and beyond. This nuclear plant will prove to be the ‘energy backbone’ of that long strategy.
Competition to capture the moon before America, the country which builds the power station first will rule over the resources.
Russia is not alone in the race to install a nuclear reactor on the Moon. America is also working rapidly on its plan to set up its own nuclear plant on the Moon around 2030. For this reason, a new competition has started at the global level regarding lunar energy infrastructure. Space experts believe that whichever country first builds its permanent power-infrastructure on the Moon, it will get a strategic edge in the use of the precious resources (such as water ice and rare metals) present there. This project is going to prove decisive not only for science but also for the future space economy.
