Outgoing US President Donald Trump on December16, 2020 issued a new Space Policy Directive (SPD) which will allow NASA to set up a nuclear reactor on the surface of the moon by 2026.
- The US Department of Energy. will collaborate in this effort.
- With President Trump issued Space Policy Directive-6 (SPD-6), the Nation’s Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion (SNPP), which aims at increasing US presence on the surface of moon and Mars too.
- The top priority of NASA is to mature and then demonstrate a fission surface power system on the Moon.
- A 10-kilowatt class fission surface power system will be developed by NASA and the Department of Energy and it will be tested on the surface of the moon. NASA is planning to demonstrate the system on the Moon in the late 2020s.
(Times of India)
