In a request for information (RFI) posted Oct. 27, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) asked Canadian companies, universities, utilities and labs what they could contribute to a lunar microreactor, a small nuclear reactor that would power operations on the Moon.
The CSA defines a microreactor as a compact fission reactor supplying up to 100 kilowatts of electricity (kWe) on the lunar surface. Its planning envelope, which the agency stresses is not a requirement, is lower, at roughly 20 to 80 kWe of continuous power for a decade or more, at polar or other sites that could be in or near permanently shadowed regions.
The CSA sees fission complementing solar panels and batteries, providing power through the two-week lunar night and in craters where sunlight is scarce. It hasn’t picked a reactor type, fuel, coolant or power-conversion system, and it invites respondents to challenge its assumptions and propose alternatives.
The RFI lists 16 capability areas, from fuel and heat transport to radiators, radiation shielding and robotic emplacement. The CSA says it does not assume one Canadian entity would design and deliver the whole system, and it welcomes responses that cover only part of one, down to a single test facility.
Responses are due Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. Eastern. The CSA says the RFI won’t lead to a contract and doesn’t commit Canada to a lunar microreactor program. Its last question asks respondents for the three highest-priority activities Canada could undertake over the next one to four years to strengthen this potential Canadian capability.
The agency sketches a possible path from studies and component work through ground tests, non-nuclear first and nuclear where authorized, to a demonstration on the Moon. Responsibility for licensing and authorizing such a reactor, approving its launch and overseeing its safety has yet to be assigned, the RFI says, and it asks respondents about any past dealings with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
In 2022 the CSA awarded MDA Space $250,000 for a concept of a Canadian-led nuclear power system for the lunar surface, one of seven Moon infrastructure studies.
This year the agency’s Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative sought architecture studies of lunar power and resource extraction. In June it awarded four contracts worth $2 million in total, two of them for power studies by Montreal’s Volta Space Technologies and CSMC Nuclear. CSMC Nuclear’s parent, Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation, licensed technology based on the SLOWPOKE research reactor from Canadian Nuclear Laboratories in 2024.
NASA wants a fission reactor producing at least 100 kWe on the Moon by 2030 and has asked U.S. industry for designs, part of a broader American push on space nuclear power.