How Lockheed Martin Brought Nuclear Power to the Moon

I’ve spent countless hours reading about our grand plans to return to the Moon, and there’s always one glaring issue that most sci-fi movies conveniently ignore: the lunar night. Imagine trying to survive in a frozen, unforgiving vacuum where the sun sets and doesn’t rise again for two weeks on Earth.

When I first started looking at how space agencies planned to keep astronauts alive in the dark, I honestly thought we’d just build massive solar farms and pack in thousands of next-generation batteries. But the math just doesn’t add up for a permanent, industrial base. So the latest news from Lockheed Martin totally got my attention. They are not looking to the sun for our lunar future; they are looking at splitting the atom.

Lockheed Martin, in collaboration with in and the US Department of Energy, is developing a Fission Surface Power (FSP) system. Their goal? To deploy a working nuclear reactor on the Moon. Let’s break down why this is happening, how the technology works, and what it means for the future of a permanent economy on the moon.

The Dark Side of Lunar Survival

To understand why Lockheed Martin is betting on nuclear fission, you need to understand the brutal reality of the lunar environment.

The most valuable real estate on the Moon is now at the poles, especially since we found water ice in permanently shadowed craters. We need that ice to drink, but more importantly, to split into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel.

Here’s the catch:

• The 14 Days of Night: A night on the Moon lasts about 350 hours.
• The Cold: Temperatures can drop to -130°C (and even colder in shady holes).
• The Shadow Problem: If you’re mining in a crater that never sees sunlight, your shiny new solar panels are completely useless.

Solar power is great for short missions or orbital satellites, but if we want to build habitats, run continuous mining operations, and keep rovers alive in the freezing dark, we need an energy source that doesn’t care when the sun is shining. Nuclear fission provides that unstoppable, reliable, and timeless power.

Enter the Fission Surface Power (FSP) Concept

When I first read the specs of what Lockheed Martin was planning, I was actually a little surprised at how modest the starting point was. They are not trying to build a big, power plant in the city right out of the gate.

Instead, they take a more practical, scalable approach:

• The Starting Line: The initial system generates between 5 to 10 kilowatts (kW) of power. To put that into perspective, 10 kW is about what is needed to simultaneously power a couple of heavy household appliances.
• The Immediate Objective: On the Moon, that 5-10 kW is a lifesaver. It’s certainly enough to heat a small shelter, run life support systems, and ensure a lunar rover doesn’t freeze to death in the long nights.
• The Long-Term Vision: Once the baseline technology is proven, Lockheed plans to scale the architecture up 25 kW, 50 kW, and finally a robust 100 kW grid.

Why Scaling Isn’t Just “Making It Bigger”

You might think, “If we can build a 10 kW reactor, why not immediately build a bigger one?” If only space engineering were easy!

Upgrading a 100 kW system introduces formidable thermal management problems. In space, getting excess heat is very difficult because there is no air to carry the heat (convection). Lockheed Martin focuses more on advanced Brayton motor technology to solve it.

For large electrical loads, they must:

• Control high temperature Brayton cycles effectively.
• Invent and implement completely new materials capable of withstanding these extreme operating temperatures.
• Develop fully autonomous operating systems so the reactor can run safely without a human being constantly on the dial.

The Race to the Next Decade

It’s not just a wild concept sitting on a drawing board. The project is actively under way Phase 1 contracts with NASA and the Department of Energy, with an actual launch target set for the end of the decade.

In fact, the development of nuclear power for space has officially become a national priority in the US, backed by a recent White House Executive Order. The government knows that whoever builds a reliable power grid on the Moon will control the future of commercial space mining and deep space exploration.

Interestingly, Lockheed Martin isn’t just focusing on dirt. Their roadmap includes building a 10-25 kW orbital power system first. I think this is a good step. By testing the reactor, heat dissipation, and autonomous controls in lunar orbit first, they could lower the risk before attempting to land and deploy a nuclear core on the dusty surface. It also helped streamline many of the pesky regulations for launching nuclear material from Earth.

A New Era of Space Exploration

We are witnessing a great change in our approach to space. We are moving away from the “plant a flag and go home” era and entering the “build a foundation and stay” era. A reliable nuclear reactor is the absolute basis of that foundation. Without it, there would be no permanent base on the moon, no lunar fuel refineries, and no stepping stone to Mars.

It’s mind-boggling to think that in just a few years, we might look at the Moon and find that there’s a small, autonomous nuclear reactor lurking in the dark, keeping the lights on for humanity’s furthest outpost.

I’m curious to know where you stand on this. If you were an astronaut selected for a long-term lunar mission, would you be comfortable sleeping in a shelter powered by a nuclear fission reactor just a few hundred yards away, or would the idea make you nervous? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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