Signed by the current Acting Administrator Sean Duffy, NASA Headquarters released a plan that calls for creating a new position, the Fission Surface Power Program Executive, who would oversee this effort, working to award contracts within the next eight months to up to two industry providers to push forward this effort.

It comes just three months after China and Russia announced they were considering a joint effort to also put a nuclear power station on the Moon in a new race for space dominance.

In 2023, NASA awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to design, build and test a nuclear rocket that could help humans travel to Mars in about half the time compared to those currently used in spacecraft.