Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy says it's time for the agency to focus on the moon and Mars, not the "smorgasbord of priorities," like climate science, the agency has been directing its resources.

In a bold, strategic move for the U.S., acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy announced plans on Aug. 5, 2025, to build a nuclear fission reactor for deployment on the lunar surface in 2030. Doing so would allow the United States to gain a foothold on the moon by the time China plans to land the first taikonaut,

According to new information on SkySafari 6 Pro, a program used to predict the placement of stars and planets, Thursday, Aug. 21, is the last chance for people to see the planetary parade, which includes the crescent moon.

"Our society is built on technologies that are highly susceptible to space weather," said NASA's Heliophysics Division Director Joseph Westlake in the release. "Just as we use meteorology to forecast Earth's weather, space weather forecasts predict the conditions and events in the space environment that can affect Earth and our technologies."

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has directed the agency to fast-track plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon.

In their report, Lal and Myers estimate it would cost about $800 million annually for five years to build and deploy a nuclear reactor on the Moon. Even if DoE support can prevent NASA's staffing cuts from kneecapping the project, its feasibility will hinge on if the Trump administration ponies up the cash to execute on its own bold claims.

NASA’s Artemis campaign is a bold series of missions to take humans back to the moon, and those astronauts will get there thanks to help from rocket engines mad

Over half a year into Trump's second term, NASA still doesn't have a leader. The space agency is staring down the barrel of some devastating cuts to its science budget, with the Trump administration betting its future on space exploration alone.