The reactor would launch to the moon by 2030, according to a directive by acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy that was sent to NASA officials in July and obtained by NPR. It's an ambitious target that has some in the scientific community concerned about high costs and a potentially unrealistic schedule.

The US is rushing to put nuclear power reactors on the Moon and Mars, and hopes to launch the first system by the end of the decade. China had also reportedly unveiled plans to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon by 2035.

This is about space exploration. This is about this next phase,” Duffy, interim NASA administrator and ‘The Real World’ alum, said