Interplanetary travel to Mars aboard nuclear-powered spaceships may sound like science fiction – yet NASA is planning to make ...

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The first space race was about flags and footprints.

NASA announced plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon on Tuesday, in an attempt to stay ahead of China and Russia in a new space race. The goal is to have the reactor built before 2030, a ...

The White House issued a directive on April 14 ordering NASA, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy to develop a nuclear fission reactor capable of orbiting the moon, with a launch-ready target ...

"I have no idea why this is getting so much play," Professor Bhavya Lal tells me over the phone, with a hint of exasperation in her voice. Lal's response makes sense once you understand the arc of her ...

That is the vision laid out across two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, the first in December 2025 and a predecessor focused on national security applications from May 2025. Together ...

With NASA’s Artemis II—the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years—successfully completed, attention is now turning to what’s next: establishing an enduring presence on the moon. Through a ...

While the Artemis II mission captured the public's imagination and revitalized interest in space exploration, it's only the first step. The ultimate goal of the Artemis program is to establish a ...

A new race to the moon is underway; not merely to erect flags, but to prospect for and extract water and helium-3, establish nuclear power plants and capitalize on the economic and strategic ...

The first space race was about flags and footprints. Now, decades later, landing on the Moon is old news. The new race is to build there, and doing so hinges on power. In April 2025, China reportedly ...