COLORADO
SPRINGS
—
The
Trump
administration
today
published
a
new
strategy
to
bring
nuclear
power
to
the
heavens
through
a
cooperative
effort
between
civil
and
military
authorities
could
see
the
Pentagon
demonstrate
an
orbital
reactor
in
as
few
as
five
years,
according
to
a
White
House
memo.
Unveiled
today
at
the
Space
Symposium
conference
here
by
Michael
Kratsios,
director
of
the
White
House
Office
of
Science
&
Technology
Policy,
the
National
Initiative
for
American
Space
Nuclear
Power
effectively
implements
an
executive
order
signed
by
President
Donald
Trump
in
December
aimed
at
achieving
American
dominance
in
space.
“Nuclear
power
in
space
will
give
us
the
sustained
electricity,
heating
and
propulsion
essential
to
a
permanent
robotic
and
eventually
human
presence
on
the
moon,
on
Mars
and
beyond,”
Kratsios
said
today.
“Executing
on
the
President’s
National
Space
Strategy
will
require
a
whole
of
government
approach,
as
well
as
the
drive
and
ingenuity
of
America’s
private
space
industry.”
Additionally,
Kratsios
noted
that
the
upcoming
National
Space
Transportation
Policy
“will
incentivize
private
sector
partners
to
co-invest
in
launch
infrastructure.”
The
memo
published
today
[PDF]
says
that
space
nuclear
power
will
be
the
subject
of
“high-level
focus
and
attention”
from
the
executive
branch
“to
enable
a
path
that
is
both
ambitious
and
achievable.”
That
includes
cooperation
with
the
private
sector
and
the
“efficient
use”
of
existing
resources.
Key
to
the
new
strategy,
according
to
the
memo,
is
NASA
and
the
Defense
Department
“conduct[ing]
parallel
and
mutually
reinforcing
…
design
competitions”
that
can
pave
the
way
to
demonstrations
and
eventual
fielding
of
“low-
to
mid-power
space
reactors
in
orbit
and
on
the
lunar
surface.”
The
two
agencies
will
also
work
towards
“deploy[ing]
high-power
reactors
in
the
2030s,”
the
memo
says.
While
NASA
is
assigned
responsibilities
like
initiating
the
development
of
a
“mid-power
space
reactor
with
a
lunar
fission
surface
power
(FSP)
variant
ready
for
launch
by
2030,”
the
Pentagon
will
have
tasks
of
its
own.
Specifically,
the
memo
says
that
“pending
availability
of
funding,”
the
DoD
will
“pursue
deployment
of
a
mission-enabling
mid-power
in-space
reactor
by
2031”
—
essentially
an
orbital
nuclear
reactor.
For
the
first
year
under
the
strategy,
DoD
will
“contribute
its
available
space
nuclear
funding”
for
NASA
efforts
that
could
“enable”
future
Pentagon
missions,
according
to
the
memo.
Beginning
in
the
second
year,
DoD
would
then
be
directed
to
carry
“at
least
two
competing
vendors”
through
“at
least
preliminary
design
review
and
ground
tests”
for
the
future
mid-power
orbital
reactor.
The
memo
encourages
the
DoD
to
collect
proposals
from
vendors
already
working
with
NASA
on
related
technologies
and
states
that
the
Pentagon
“should
have
the
option”
to
select
any
qualified
vendors
from
NASA
programs
for
fission
surface
power
or
nuclear
electric
power
if
DoD
“program
participants
fail
to
meet
appropriate
programmatic
and
technical
milestones.”
Ideally,
learnings
from
low-
and
mid-power
reactors
could
eventually
culminate
in
a
high-powered
reactor
that
NASA
could
have
ready
for
launch
in
the
2030s.
The
memo
defines
a
high-powered
reactor
as
a
system
that
provides
“at
least
100″
kilowatts
of
elecrical
power.
The
memo
explicitly
lists
several
tools
for
program
managers,
including
firm
fixed-price
contracts,
vendor
proposals
for
milestones
and
the
establishment
of
government
use
rights.
The
White
House’s
Office
of
Science
and
Technology
Policy
is
expected
to
develop
a
“roadmap”
for
the
overarching
space
strategy
within
90
days,
which
will
address
potential
“obstacles”
and
ways
to
overcome
them.
The
new
strategy
comes
amid
a
burgeoning
space
race,
most
recently
exemplified
by
the
Artemis
II
mission
that
sent
American
astronauts
on
a
successful
slingshot
around
the
moon.
American
officials
hope
they
can
keep
ahead
of
adversaries
like
China
and
Russia
who
also
harbor
space
and
lunar
ambitions,
including
the
establishment
of
a
moon
base.
Leveraging
previous
efforts
could
help
shape
the
path
ahead.
For
example,
while
the
memo
says
NASA’s
funding
to
develop
nuclear
thermal
propulsion
should
focus
on
aspects
like
common
components
that
could
benefit
other
space
nuclear
programs,
nuclear
thermal
propulsion
itself
could
be
an
“option
for
future
crewed
missions
to
Mars.”
Notably,
the
Defense
Advanced
Research
Projects
Agency
killed
a
program
for
a
nuclear
thermal
propulsion
demonstrator
last
year,
but
insights
from
the
project
could
theoretically
inform
fresh
efforts
under
the
White
House’s
new
space
strategy.