Better known for using nuclear power to sustain submarines deep below the ocean surface, Rolls-Royce has set its sights a lot higher. The British company has received government funding to develop a micro-reactor to power a base on the moon.
Although the use of clean, almost unlimited nuclear fusion power in space has long captured the imagination in sci-fi novels and TV shows, the lunar reactor would use existing fission power.
According to the latest announcement, NASA and the Department of Energy are working together to put a nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030.
If you’re curious to delve deeper into the topic, read more about it here.