DTN 125: Nuclear Reactors on the Moon

Plus: Army's laser weapon, Tesla shutters Dojo, solar-powered moon brick factory, NASA rewrites the rules for private space stations, AI chip tarriffs, and more.

August 08, 2025

"For the past six months, we've been purposefully testing our system's limits. We've swapped in defective hardware, mismounted magnets on purpose, and simulated wear and tear that would happen over 40 years of operation. Through our control system—an array of sensors, feedback loops, and dynamic tuning of every single magnet—we can tune out a ridiculous amount of these imperfections. The hardware and magnetic fields operate at near perfection even with manufacturing defects or degradation over time."

“NASA is fast-tracking a plan to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030 under a new directive from the agency’s interim administrator Sean Duffy…In addition to developing a robust safety strategy, the race to bring nuclear power to the moon will blaze new trails in space law and policy. Whatever nation or entity gets there first will likely establish what the directive calls a “keep-out zone” for safety and security. These zones, which may cover a few square miles, would prevent competitors from entering the same space.”

A simulation showing the possible path of 50 photons sent through a human head from a laser [left, in red] to a detector [right, green]. (Image: Extreme Light group/University of Glasgow)

“What’s going on inside your head?” will eventually cease to be a rhetorical question. A Glasgow-based research group specializing in optical brain imaging has successfully developed a mechanism that can shine light through a person’s head. Of course, the human head isn’t exactly known for letting light through— researchers found that only about one billionth of a billionth of near-infrared photons make it through an entire adult human head, but after five-yers of experiments, the Glasgow team finally had a breakthrough on one volunteers head. While this success may seem minor and the technology is still in its infancy, researchers are excited by the potential, far-reaching applications of this tech, including the ability to establish standard biomarkers for brain health and rapid diagnosis of strokes. (via IEEE)