By Kurtis Archer | 2025-08-29

The 21st century Space Race has expanded beyond science and exploration to include influence and control, with China, Russia and the United States all stating their intentions to build the first nuclear reactor on the lunar surface.

China and Russia are working together on this goal and believe they can install a nuclear power source on the moon’s surface by the mid-2030s.

Experts worry that if a Sino-Russian partnership succeeds in placing a nuclear reactor on the moon, the two powers may declare certain areas of the surface around their base as "restricted zones" and deny access to other nations.

In 2022 the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed contracts to explore early designs for lunar nuclear reactors, with the goal of getting a working reactor on the moon before 2030.

As the race heats up, the United States is now shifting focus from government systems to partnering with private spaceflight companies.

Nuclear reactors will be crucial for early moon colonizers.

One lunar day is about 28 Earth days and includes around 14 days of sunlight and 14 days of darkness, when solar panels are unable to function.

A nuclear reactor could supply electricity during the dark periods, powering life-support and communications systems and aiding in the construction of a lunar base.

Access to the moon

NASA’s Artemis program aims to send humans back to the moon, and has a first landing planned for 2027.

If China and Russia build a base first and enforce "restricted zones," they could potentially block access to landing sites, craters with water or areas that get lots of sunlight, experts warn.

In 2024, after China sent a lander to the lunar surface, former NASA administrator Bill Nelson shared concerns that China could try to ban the United States from certain lunar areas if it gets there first.

"We believe that a lot of [China's] so-called civilian space program is a military program. I think in effect we are in a race," he said.

"We better watch out that they don't get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, 'Keep out, we're here, this is our territory'," Nelson told Politico.

Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy has said he believes putting a nuclear reactor on the moon is critical for US security in space and would include a "keep-out zone" for nations not part of Artemis.

In a statement, Chinese embassy spokesman in Washington Liu Pengyu denied that China aims to claim sovereign territory on the moon, saying:

"China always advocates the peaceful use of outer space, opposes the weaponization of and arms race in outer space, and works actively toward building a community with a shared future for mankind in the space domain."

But other Chinese officials have made statements to the contrary, notably comparing the moon to the Diaoyu Islands, which Beijing claims, but which are are currently claimed and administered by Japan.

Competing interests

Some experts say the Outer Space Treaty (OST), which prohibits "national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means," will deter China from making sovereign claims on the moon.

Such actions would tarnish China's international image, they argue, and may result in unwanted consequences. But others are not convinced.

"China is the world's No. 1 treaty violator," said space author and Foreign Policy Research Institute affiliate Brandon Weichert, quoted in a January 2023 Newsweek op-ed.

"It thinks nothing of ignoring, violating, or junking its international obligations, on the moon, in deep space and lower-earth orbit, or anywhere else for that matter."

Some space experts worry that China may seek to control the cis-lunar space between the moon and Earth, which may enable it to disable or destroy the satellite communications systems of other nations.

Both China and Russia have demonstrated anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, and credible documents from the militaries of both nations point toward strategic ambitions to take space dominance from the United States.

Russia has developed systems that are designed to target satellites in low Earth orbit and disrupt communications.

Since first testing an ASAT in 2007, China has developed jammers, microwave weapons, and fractional orbital bombardment systems for conventional strikes – or nuclear ones – from orbit.

The moon is the logical next step in any new Cold War, experts caution, with the first nation to establish itself gaining a huge advantage in the commercialization and militarization of space.