[Image: Gencraft / AI]
Well, it looks like the Moon’s getting a new landlord — and this time, it’s not Uncle Sam.
Russia just inked a deal with China to slap a nuclear power plant on the lunar surface. Because what says “peaceful cooperation” like a nuclear reactor on a celestial body?
The plant is designed to power the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a joint venture between China and Russia that sounds suspiciously like a polite way of saying “we’re carving up the Moon before anyone else gets the chance.”
According to a new memorandum, the whole project should be online by 2036, Live Science reports, just in time for another round of posturing in space.
And the timing couldn’t be more symbolic. Just as NASA quietly proposed a 2026 budget that would cancel its own plans for an orbital lunar base, China and Russia were over here firing up the nuclear blueprints. One empire steps back, another steps in. Colonial baton successfully passed.
Meanwhile, Russia’s getting all sci-fi about the build. According to a 2024 interview with Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov on Russian state media TASS, the construction will likely be done “without the presence of humans.” So, robots will do the heavy lifting while the humans plan the flag-planting ceremony. Borisov admits the details are still hazy, but insists the tech is “almost ready.” Which in geopolitics usually translates to: we’ve got it under control.
Roscosmos added this in a May 8 announcement: “The station will conduct fundamental space research and test technology for long-term uncrewed operations of the ILRS, with the prospect of a human being’s presence on the Moon.”
Prospect, huh? Sounds less like scientific curiosity and more like staking out a mining claim.
The new research station, a permanent, manned lunar base located on the moon’s south pole, has so far attracted 17 countries to join the program — including Egypt, Pakistan, Venezuela, Thailand and South Africa (HI!) – a diverse roster, sure, but one that also reads like a strategic alliance aimed at counterbalancing Western dominance in space. Which, frankly, isn’t the worst idea, but it still plays out on the same colonial chessboard. This time, the board just happens to be made of dust and craters.
China’s 2028 Chang’e-8 mission will lay the groundwork for the whole thing, and also mark the nation’s first human moon landing. A milestone, yes, but also another flag in the dirt.
The roadmap was first rolled out in 2021, promising five super-heavy rocket launches between 2030 and 2035 to piece together a robotic base. Once the essentials are down, China’s vision gets even bigger: orbital stations, far-side nodes, and equatorial hubs. According to Wu Yanhua, China’s deep space architect:
The extended model “will be powered by solar, radioisotope and nuclear generators. It will also include lunar-Earth and high-speed lunar surface communication networks, as well as lunar vehicles like a hopper, an unmanned long-range vehicle, and pressurized and unpressurized manned rovers.”
All of this isn’t just for show. It’s the blueprint for a Mars-bound future, a future where space isn’t the final frontier so much as the next extractive zone.
China, for its part, has been on a quiet conquest since its 2013 Chang’e 3 rover touched down. Since then, it’s landed more robots, gathered samples, and mapped the lunar surface like it’s planning to subdivide it.
And what about the U.S.? Well, America’s lunar ambitions are still trudging along with the Artemis program, the much-delayed sequel to Apollo. Artemis III is now tentatively scheduled for 2027, aiming to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time in half a century. And while that sounds historic, it’s also a reminder of how much time has been lost chasing Cold War nostalgia.
Then there’s NASA’s Gateway space station, once a symbol of multinational collaboration, now potentially headed for the scrap heap thanks to the Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget. Despite real progress on construction, the mission might be axed. Because nothing says “future-focused” like abandoning your own platform in orbit.
So here we are: China and Russia are building a nuclear-powered Moon base. NASA’s tightening its belt. And the Moon, once a symbol of universal wonder, is looking more and more like a prize in the same old imperial game.
The only difference this time? The suits are sleeker, the rockets are bigger, and the colonial flags are digital – but the playbook hasn’t changed much at all.
[Source: Live Science]
