RR. Rolls-royce Holdings Plc

By Joe Hoppe

Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC said Friday that it has secured 2.9 million pounds ($3.5 million) from the U.K. Space Agency for research into how nuclear power could support a future moon base.

The British aerospace and defense company said that it is working on a micro-reactor program, developing technology to provide power needed for humans to live and work on the moon.

The space agency has now announced GBP2.9 million of new funding for the project to deliver an initial demonstration of a U.K. lunar modular nuclear reactor. This follows on from a GBP249,000 study funded by the agency in 2022.

The company said it plans to have a reactor ready to send to the moon by 2029. Relatively small and lightweight, a micro-reactor can provide continuous power regardless of environmental conditions, and has a wide-ranging use of potential applications, including commercial and defense use cases.

Rolls-Royce will work alongside a variety of collaborators, including a number of U.K. universities and the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, it said.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 17, 2023 04:02 ET (08:02 GMT)

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