Russia plans to put a nuclear power plant on the moon in the next decade to supply its lunar space programme and a joint Russian-Chinese research station, as major powers rush to explore the earth’s only natural satellite.

Ever since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space in 1961, Russia has prided itself as a leading power in space exploration, but in recent decades it has fallen behind the United States and, increasingly, China.

Russia’s ambitions suffered a massive blow in August 2023 when its unmanned Luna-25 mission smashed into the surface of the moon while attempting to land, and Elon Musk has revolutionised the launch of space vehicles - once a Russian speciality.

Is that a nuclear reactor on the moon?

Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, said in a statement that it planned to build a lunar power plant by 2036 and signed a contract with the Lavochkin Association aerospace company to do it.

Roscosmos did not say explicitly that the plant would be nuclear but it said the participants included Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and the Kurchatov Institute, Russia’s leading nuclear research institute.

Roscosmos said the purpose of the plant was to power Russia’s lunar programme, including rovers, an observatory and the infrastructure of the joint Russian-Chinese International Lunar Research Station.

“The project is an important step towards the creation of a permanently functioning scientific lunar station and the transition from one-time missions to a long-term lunar exploration programme,” Roscosmos said.

The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, said in June that one of the corporation’s aims was to put a nuclear power plant on the moon and to explore Venus, known as earth’s “sister” planet.

The moon, which is 384,400 km (238,855 miles) from our planet, moderates the earth’s wobble on its axis, which ensures a more stable climate. It also causes tides in the world’s oceans.

US also plans a reactor on the moon

Russia is not the only one with such plans. NASA in August declared its intent to put a nuclear reactor on the moon by the first quarter of fiscal year 2030.

“We’re in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon. And to have a base on the moon, we need energy,” US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said in August, when asked about the plans.

He added that the United States was currently behind in the race to the moon. He said energy was essential to allow life to be sustained on the moon and thence for humans to get to Mars.

International rules ban putting nuclear weapons in space but there are no bans on putting nuclear energy sources into space - as long as they comply with certain rules.

Some space analysts have predicted a lunar gold rush: NASA says there are estimates of a million tonnes of Helium-3, an isotope of helium that is rare on earth, on the moon.

Rare earth metals - used in smartphones, computers and advanced technologies - are also present on the moon, including scandium, yttrium and the 15 lanthanides, according to research by Boeing.