Russia sets timeline for power station on the Moon

Roscosmos has signed a contract with major space and nuclear firms to build a facility tied to the China-led lunar base by 2036

Russia plans to launch a power station on the Moon within a decade, space agency Roscosmos has announced, saying it has signed a contract with NPO Lavochkin, the country’s lead developer of deep-space and planetary missions, to carry out work through 2036 on the project.

The purpose of the facility is to provide a long-term energy supply for lunar rovers and an observatory, as well as for the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), Roscosmos said in a statement on Wednesday.

NPO Lavochkin led landmark Soviet missions to the Moon and Venus and remains the lead developer for Russia’s current lunar missions. State nuclear corporation Rosatom and the Kurchatov Institute, the country’s leading national research center for nuclear science, will be involved in the project, it added.

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Over the next decade, Roscosmos plans to develop spacecraft, conduct ground-based experimental testing, carry out flight tests, and put infrastructure on the Moon.

”The project is an important step toward creating a permanently operating scientific lunar station and moving from one-off missions to a long-term program of lunar exploration,” Roscosmos said.

The planned power station will form part of a joint lunar project with China. During a visit to Moscow by Chinese President Xi Jinping in May, the two countries signed an agreement to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon to supply energy for Beijing’s permanent lunar research base, which is expected to become operational in the mid-2030s. Russia is a key partner in that effort, contributing expertise in deep-space systems and nuclear power.

Nuclear energy is widely seen by space agencies as the most viable option for long-term power generation on the Moon, where solar panels are less effective due to prolonged periods of darkness, highly adhesive lunar dust, and extreme temperature swings.

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The announcement comes amid intensifying competition over lunar exploration. The US, China’s main rival in space, has launched the Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon, establish a sustained presence near the south pole, and build the Lunar Gateway, a small space station that will orbit the Moon.