Nukes on the moon?

In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman speaks with science journalist Robin George Andrews about NASA’s push to put a nuclear reactor on the moon. They explore why nuclear power could be key to sustaining long-term lunar missions, what the technical hurdles of operating a reactor in such an extreme environment are and why experts say the agency’s ambitious timeline may be moving too fast.

Recommended Reading:

Why NASA wants to build a nuclear reactor on the moon (scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-dreams-of-…)

NASA needs nuclear power for its moon base. Here’s the White House plan to get it (scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-needs-nucl…)

NASA announces nuclear-powered Mars mission by 2028 (scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-announces-…)

NASA Commits to Plan to Build a Nuclear Reactor on the Moon by 2030 (scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-commits-to…)

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: scientificamerican.com/getsciam/?utm_source=pr… to Scientific American and sign up (scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferenc…) for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices