NASA and DOE Sign Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion Agreement

NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy signed a memorandum of understanding titled “Accelerating American Leadership in Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion” at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington. The document was signed by Isaacman and Wright, establishing a formal collaboration framework between the two agencies.

NASA is advancing nuclear technologies for space, and the new memorandum of understanding with the DOE unites the agencies across all areas of space nuclear development, with safety as a central pillar.

An executive order on ensuring American space superiority, announced in December 2025, directs NASA to pursue a lunar reactor.

Space Reactor‑1 Freedom is slated for launch in 2028 to demonstrate operational deep-space application and pave the way for Lunar Reactor‑1.

Lunar Reactor‑1 is a fission surface power system intended to sustain a future Moon base. Together with Space Reactor‑1, it is described as the foundation of a nuclear-space industrial base and is poised to power lunar outposts, energize broader lunar infrastructure, and prove essential for future Mars missions.

NASA’s Dragonfly mission, also launching in 2028 to Saturn’s moon Titan, carries a Multi‑Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator and 24 Light Weight Radioisotope Heater Units to investigate Titan’s habitability.

NASA and the DOE are jointly supporting the European Space Agency’s Rosalind Franklin Mars rover, which uses 24 similar heater units to maintain instrument temperatures as it studies potential life on Mars.

For the lunar industry, the agreement and linked reactor programs mark a concrete government push to make nuclear fission a backbone of sustained surface operations. Lunar Reactor‑1 is explicitly tied to the needs of a Moon base, while the broader initiative is framed as foundational for both lunar infrastructure and eventual crewed Mars missions.