THE PROBLEM
The $1M/kg Problem
Lunar economy runs on fission. The core is small. Everything around weighs tons. Launching it from Earth could cost $5-12B per reactor. The infrastructure gap is the biggest unsolved problem in lunar exploration.
THE ENERGY PROBLEM
The lunar economy runs on fission.
The Moon has 14-day nights, no atmosphere, and energy demands that solar cannot meet. Habitats, ISRU, propellant production, defense, and continuous operations all require kilowatt to megawatt-class baseload power.
Surface fission is the only credible answer - and every other lunar venture depends on it.
Surface fission is the only credible answer - and every other lunar venture depends on it.
NASA is funding fission reactors, landers, and surface systems for a permanent lunar presence. But every kilogram of structural material still has to be launched from Earth - at over $1 million per kilogram to the lunar surface. That approach doesn't scale. And right now, nobody is solving it.
THE WEIGHT PROBLEM
The core is small. Everything around it is heavy.
NASA's KRUSTY proved a 1 kW fission reactor runs on a 28 kg uranium core. The core is small. Everything around it is heavy. Very heavy.
Shielding, containment vessels, heat exchangers, and structural housings dominate the mass budget of any surface fission system.
They weight tons.
Total FSP system mass: NASA specified a maximum of 6,000 kg (6 metric tons). But actual design studies showed ~10,000 kg landed mass was needed - and that's excluding the mobility system.
The shielding is the mass problem:
NASA's own studies identify the "preferred implementation approach" as using in-situ radiation shielding - meaning manufactured from lunar regolith. But none of the three FSP prime contractors are scoped to do that. The alternative is launching all shielding from Earth, which doubles the system mass to 10,000+ kg per reactor.
At $500K-$1.2M per kg to the lunar surface, that's $5-12 billion just in launch costs for the shielding of a single reactor.
Shielding, containment vessels, heat exchangers, and structural housings dominate the mass budget of any surface fission system.
They weight tons.
Total FSP system mass: NASA specified a maximum of 6,000 kg (6 metric tons). But actual design studies showed ~10,000 kg landed mass was needed - and that's excluding the mobility system.
The shielding is the mass problem:
- Reactor core + shadow shield alone: ~900-1,400 kg
- Radiation shield mass for a 100 kW(t) reactor: 8,600 kg
- Radiation shield mass scaling up to 1,000 kW(t): 20,580 kg
- Self-deployed concepts with Earth-launched shielding double the total system mass vs. in-situ shielded concepts
NASA's own studies identify the "preferred implementation approach" as using in-situ radiation shielding - meaning manufactured from lunar regolith. But none of the three FSP prime contractors are scoped to do that. The alternative is launching all shielding from Earth, which doubles the system mass to 10,000+ kg per reactor.
At $500K-$1.2M per kg to the lunar surface, that's $5-12 billion just in launch costs for the shielding of a single reactor.
At $500K-$1.2M per kg to the lunar surface, that's $5-12B just in launch costs for the shielding of a single reactor.
THE MASS PROBLEM
You can't launch your way to a Moon base.
You need dozens of reactors to have a functioning lunar economy.
Scale that weight problem across multiple reactor deployments, habitats, landing pads, and storage facilities, and the cost curve becomes unsustainable. The Artemis program already faces scrutiny over budget and timeline. Adding thousands of tons of structural mass to the launch manifest isn't a realistic path forward.
The math is simple: if permanent lunar infrastructure depends entirely on Earth-launched materials, it will remain permanently unaffordable.
Scale that weight problem across multiple reactor deployments, habitats, landing pads, and storage facilities, and the cost curve becomes unsustainable. The Artemis program already faces scrutiny over budget and timeline. Adding thousands of tons of structural mass to the launch manifest isn't a realistic path forward.
The math is simple: if permanent lunar infrastructure depends entirely on Earth-launched materials, it will remain permanently unaffordable.
The $5-12B question nobody is answering.
The infrastructure gap costs billions per reactor.
Lunar Forge is closing it.
Lunar Forge is closing it.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The gap is clear. The clock is ticking.
Lunar fission reactors aren't aspirational - they're mandated. In 2025, President signed an executive order making nuclear reactors on the lunar surface a national priority.
NASA and DOE have committed to deploying a surface reactor by 2030. The timeline is locked. The funding is moving. Habitats, mobility systems, and communications infrastructure are in active development. But the structural foundation these systems require - manufactured on the Moon, from lunar materials, by autonomous systems - remains an open problem.
The FSP prime contractors are focused on reactor development. Their scope does not include manufacturing reactor housing and shielding from lunar regolith. That's not a criticism. It's a gap in the architecture that someone needs to fill.
The technology to fill it exists. Lunar Forge is building the system that will allow the lunar economy to exist.
NASA and DOE have committed to deploying a surface reactor by 2030. The timeline is locked. The funding is moving. Habitats, mobility systems, and communications infrastructure are in active development. But the structural foundation these systems require - manufactured on the Moon, from lunar materials, by autonomous systems - remains an open problem.
The FSP prime contractors are focused on reactor development. Their scope does not include manufacturing reactor housing and shielding from lunar regolith. That's not a criticism. It's a gap in the architecture that someone needs to fill.
The technology to fill it exists. Lunar Forge is building the system that will allow the lunar economy to exist.
Cost. Delivering mass to the lunar surface runs $500K - $1.2M per kilogram. Radiation shielding alone for a single reactor weighs 8,600 - 20,580 kg depending on reactor thermal power. That translates to $4.3 - $12 billion in launch costs per reactor - just for the shielding. NASA's own studies confirm that self-deployed concepts carrying Earth-launched shielding double the total system mass compared to in-situ approaches.
NASA funds research into in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and has tested regolith processing concepts. However, the Fission Surface Power prime contractors - Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse, and the IX joint venture - are scoped to reactor development. Manufacturing reactor-grade housing and shielding from lunar materials is outside their current mandate.
Even if next-generation vehicles like Starship reduce surface delivery costs by 10x, the mass problem remains. Shielding a single reactor still requires 8,600 - 20,580 kg of material. At even $100K per kilogram - far below today's costs - that's still $860M - $2B per reactor in launch costs alone. And a functioning lunar economy requires multiple reactors. In-situ manufacturing doesn't just reduce cost - it eliminates the mass constraint entirely. The raw material is already there, covering the entire lunar surface to a depth of several meters. The question isn't whether launch costs will fall. It's whether launching construction materials from Earth will ever make sense when the building material is already on-site.
Launch the core.
We build the rest.
We build the rest.
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