---
title: "Scientists Want to Build Nuclear Reactors to Power Moon Colony"
description: "NASA is working on simplified, scaled-down nuclear reactors that it hopes will power future settlements on the Moon and Mars."
date: "2020-05-21"
modified: "2020-05-21"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nuclear-reactor-power-moon-colony"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Moon"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "moon"
  - "Nuclear Energy"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Want to Build Nuclear Reactors to Power Moon Colony

![NASA is working on simplified, scaled-down nuclear reactors that it hopes will power future settlements on the Moon and Mars.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/nuclear-reactor-power-moon-colony.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Additional Pylons

A team of scientists and engineers is hard at work building nuclear reactors to provide energy to settlements on the [Moon and Mars](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nuclear-reactor-shipped-mars-2022>).

As space agencies around move to establish a permanent human presence on other worlds, the question of how to provide them with power has long lingered unsolved, *[Chemical & Engineering News ](<https://cen.acs.org/energy/nuclear-power/NASA-thinks-nuclear-reactors-supply/98/i19>)*[reports](<https://cen.acs.org/energy/nuclear-power/NASA-thinks-nuclear-reactors-supply/98/i19>). Because resupply missions are challenging and sunlight doesn't reach some parts of the Moon, NASA is betting that simple, [lightweight nuclear reactors](<https://futurism.com/nuclear-reactor-space-waste>) are the way to go.

## Simple Solutions

The challenge, however, is scale. Constructing a full nuclear plant on the Moon is out of the question, *C&EN* reports, so NASA is working on simplified, scaled-down reactors that could withstand the Moon's harsh conditions.

"I hate to call it an innovation because it's not that complicated," David Poston, a nuclear engineer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, told *C&EN*. "But it's an innovation that we said, 'Why don’t we just do it the simple way that we know is going to work?'"

## Staging Area

The engineers say four reactors could give enough energy for a six-person crew to live on Mars, and they're hoping to use the Moon as a testing ground.

"On the moon, you’re close to home," NASA engineer Michelle Rucker told *C&EN*, "so if something fails, it’s a fairly close trip to get back home, whereas on Mars, your system better be working."

**READ MORE:** [Why NASA thinks nuclear reactors could supply power for human colonies in space](<https://cen.acs.org/energy/nuclear-power/NASA-thinks-nuclear-reactors-supply/98/i19>) \[*Chemical & Engineering News*\]

**More on nuclear energy:** *[NASA Just Got $125 Million To Develop Nuclear Rockets](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-develop-nuclear-rockets>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)