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.

Placing an atomic energy source on the lunar surface is “not science fiction,” experts say, but does pose technical challenges.

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.