It started as a vague proposal during the final year of Donald Trump’s presidency, but now, under a renewed directive quietly reactivated through backchannel agreements, the controversial plan to place a nuclear reactor on the moon is back — and this time, it’s happening. According to recently unsealed documents from the Department of Energy and statements from Trump-aligned advisors, the project is moving forward under a federal-private contract initially drafted in 2020, now revived with fresh urgency ahead of the 2026 lunar mission window.

The initial proposal, code-named Project Artemis-Reactor, was first announced through a joint NASA and DOE statement in late 2020, just months before Trump left office. At the time, it was billed as a “sustainable surface energy initiative” to support future moon bases. But internal memos obtained by Politico reveal that several of the program’s contractors have remained active over the past five years, quietly preparing components for a lunar reactor funded through military-adjacent research channels.

Trump’s team just confirmed it: the nuclear reactor for the moon is already being assembled. This isn’t sci-fi — it’s happening. #MoonReactor— OrbitWire (@OrbitWire) August 7, 2025

The renewed push is being led by a group of former Trump-era officials who have since formed a shadow consortium of space, energy, and defense contractors. One of the key players is LunarGrid, a Nevada-based startup with deep connections to Trump’s Space Council, as profiled by Bloomberg. Their mission? Build and launch a compact fission power system capable of sustaining long-term lunar habitation — all within the next 18 months.