Job
Lunar Reactor-1
Built in-house by NASA
Lunar Reactor-1 is NASA's fission surface power system for the Moon Base, meant to sustain the base through darkness and shadow. It energizes habitats, communications, instruments, rovers, resource use, and lunar infrastructure near the South Pole through the long lunar night. The December 2025 order Ensuring American Space Superiority sets a launch-ready lunar surface reactor by 2030, and the 8 October 2026 memorandum with the Department of Energy takes effect on 1 November 2026.
Who built it
Schematic
The Space Reactors Division calls Lunar Reactor-1 the first fission power system on the lunar surface.
Space Reactor-1 Freedom is the late 2028 fission spacecraft. City Labs' tritium heater and Lunar Forge's sintered housing are separate jobs.