The Long Hold

The US built the capacity to put nuclear reactors in space, then sat on it for sixty years. Six presidencies came and went, the option stayed unexercised. The April 2026 NSTM-3 memo is what it looks like when a country finally cashes in a bet it placed in the 1960s and never played.

A capability can sit dormant for sixty years and still be live. US space nuclear power was held across six political eras without being exercised. The April 2026 NSTM-3 memo is the moment someone finally called it in.

The full piece on how the long hold ended: https://www.jakelawrence.xyz/research/the-long-hold

The strange thing about US space nuclear power isn't that it exists. It's that the country built it in the 1960s and then held the option unused across six presidencies. Sixty years of not-yet. The April 2026 NSTM-3 memo is the moment that patience turned into a decision.

Sixty years is a long time to hold an option and never exercise it. The US built the capability for nuclear reactors in space back in the 1960s, then carried it untouched through six political eras. Each administration could have moved and didn't. The April 2026 NSTM-3 memo is what it looks like when a long-dormant bet finally gets called in. I traced how the hold lasted that long and what changed: https://www.jakelawrence.xyz/research/the-long-hold

The US built space nuclear capability in the 1960s and then didn't use it for sixty years. Six presidencies, one dormant option. The April 2026 NSTM-3 memo is the moment it got cashed in.

How the long hold ended: https://www.jakelawrence.xyz/research/the-long-hold

A capability held for sixty years without ever being exercised is a strange kind of asset. US space nuclear power sat untouched across six political eras. The April 2026 NSTM-3 memo finally called it in.