Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has directed the agency to fast-track plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon.

NASA is accelerating its plans for a nuclear reactor on the moon. For several years now, the agency has been working to get a 40-kilowatt fission system ready for launch to the moon by the early 2030s. But interim NASA chief Sean Duffy is about to announce a more ambitious path, via a directive set to be released this week, according to Politico.

The United States 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.NASA formally committed to using nuclear power on Mars in December 2024 -- the first of seven key decisions necessary for human exploration of the Red Planet.