(Reuters, Moscow) Russia plans to build a nuclear power plant on the moon within a decade to power its lunar space program and a joint Russian-Chinese research station.
Roscosmos, the Russian state space corporation, recently announced plans to build a lunar power station by 2036 and has signed a construction contract with a Russian space company.
Roscosmos stated that the power plant was built to provide energy for Russia's lunar program, encompassing infrastructure for lunar rovers, observatories, and the joint Russian-Chinese international lunar research station.
The group emphasized: "This project is a key step toward establishing a permanent scientific station on the moon and shifting from single missions to long-term lunar exploration."
While Roscosmos did not explicitly state that the power plant would use nuclear energy, it revealed that the participants included Rosatom and the Kurchatov Institute, Russia's leading nuclear research institution.
In June of this year, Roscosmos CEO Bakanov said that one of the group's goals is to deploy a nuclear power plant on the moon and explore Venus, which is known as Earth's "sister planet".
Since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter space in 1961, Russia has prided itself on being a leader in space exploration. However, in recent decades, Russia has fallen behind the United States, while China's space capabilities have been steadily increasing.
Source: [Lianhe Zaobao] (https://www.zaobao.com/news/world/story20251228-8011247)