In late August I talked with NewsNation on the accelerating competition between China and the U.S. to return to the Moon. NASA plans to speed up deployment of a lunar surface nuclear reactor, to power an outpost and resource extraction, are a good step forward, but the administration should be strongly supporting the Artemis lunar return missions, with a ~2027 lunar return on Artemis III (a stretch as the effort stands now). All China has to do for a “W” is to duplicate Apollo 11, while we attempt a much more ambitious lunar return with more people, longer stays, and long-term infrastructure. But greater complexity plus static budgets mean “slow.” Perceptions of global tech superiority matter; we need to change that pace–quickly.
My comments here (note–the nuclear commenter in the clip is incorrect; NASA is building a fission reactor):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0vOF89mLT0
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