![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/jeff_foust_400x400.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFor more than six decades, the United States has pursued the promise of nuclear power in space \u2014 a technology capable of delivering energy where sunlight can\u2019t reach and enabling missions beyond the limits of chemical propulsion. Yet since a brief reactor flight in 1965, no fission reactor has operated in orbit.<\/p>\n
Now, amid renewed competition from China and Russia, advancing reactor designs and emerging commercial interest, space nuclear power is at a crossroads. Advocates see it as essential for sustained lunar operations, crewed Mars missions, and national security in cislunar space. Critics warn of cost, complexity, and regulatory hurdles that have derailed past efforts.<\/p>\n
In addition, NASA leadership has prioritized a nuclear reactor on the moon.<\/p>\n
Join us Aug. 28 as we examine why the stakes are high, what\u2019s changed in the past year and whether this time the technology can finally leave the launch pad.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jeff Foust<\/strong> Bhavya Lal<\/strong> Fred Kennedy<\/strong> TBA<\/strong><\/p>\n Register<\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong> By registering, you consent to participate in a recorded event and receive communications from SpaceNews and our partners.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For more than six decades, the United States has pursued the promise of nuclear power in space \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[18,19,17,5303,1779,133,451,5304,5305],"class_list":{"0":"post-5023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-nuclear-electric-propulsion","12":"tag-nuclear-power","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-space","15":"tag-upcoming-webinar","16":"tag-webinar"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Senior Staff Writer
SpaceNews<\/p>\n![\"Bhavya](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/bhavya_lal_square.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Former Acting Chief Technologist and Associate Administrator for Technology, Policy, and Strategy,
NASA<\/p>\n![\"Fred](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/fred-kennedy-headshot-square.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
CEO And Co-Founder
Dark Fission Space Systems<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/coming_soon.jpg\")
<\/p>\n