Nasa unveils 3-phase plan for permanent moon base; 3 missions this year

After a successful lunar flyaround mission, Nasa on Tuesday unveiled a $20 billion plan to establish a permanent base on the moon, backed by a series of missions involving robotic landers, lunar rovers and drones aimed at preparing for sustained human presence on the lunar surface.

 

At a press conference, Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman said the Moon Base programme would help the US master the skills needed to live and operate in the moon’s harsh environment.

 

“America is returning to the moon. The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” Isaacman said.

 

 

Nasa said the effort would unfold in three phases. Over the next three years, the agency plans to test technologies and prepare for surface operations ahead of returning astronauts to the moon in 2028 as part of the Artemis programme. The second phase, from 2029 to 2032, would focus on building permanent infrastructure including a power grid, while the third phase aims for routine crew rotations and continuous surface activity.

 

“Then we will be able to say, ‘Hey, we are permanently here and we are not giving it up,’” Carlos García-Galán, head of Nasa’s moon base programme.

 

Nasa also announced a series of contracts to support the initiative. Reuters reported that Astrolab and Lunar Outpost were awarded contracts worth about $219 million and $220 million respectively to build lunar terrain vehicles, or LTVs, for future Artemis missions.

The New York Times reported that the two companies — Lunar Outpost of Colorado and Venturi Astrolab of California — would develop modern versions of the moon buggies used during the Apollo missions in the early 1970s.

 

The new rovers are expected to weigh about one metric ton, carry two astronauts and travel on slopes as steep as 20 degrees. According to The New York Times, the vehicles will also be capable of autonomous driving or remote operation from Earth when astronauts are not present. Nasa wants at least one rover on the moon when astronauts next land there, potentially as early as 2028 during Artemis IV.

 

“It’s absolutely an objective,” García-Galán said during the news conference, according to the newspaper.

 

The vehicles represent a scaled-back version of earlier Nasa plans. Isaacman revised the programme this year by lowering speed requirements, removing a robotic arm from the specifications and shortening the contract duration from 10 years to one year in an effort to accelerate deployment.

 

“That will allow astronauts to take moon drives sooner,” Isaacman said.

 

Reuters reported that Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, received a contract worth $188 million to transport the rovers to the moon using its uncrewed cargo lander, Mark 1.  

 

Nasa had selected Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander for the Moon Base-I mission planned no earlier than this autumn.

The mission will deliver scientific equipment including stereo cameras to study how lander thrusters interact with the lunar surface and a laser retroreflective array to improve spacecraft positioning.  The mission would land on the Shackleton Connecting Ridge near the lunar south pole to reduce risks for future crewed Artemis missions.

 

Nasa also announced a $75 million contract for Firefly Aerospace to transport four robotic drones to the moon’s south pole region, Reuters reported. The drones, being developed at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, are designed to hop between locations and help map potential landing and moon base sites.

 

“It will help us build a digital terrain map of different landing sites on the moon and prospect moon base sites,” García-Galán said.

Nasa’s Moon Base II mission, planned for later this year, would carry more than 1,100 pounds of cargo aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, including Astrolab’s FLIP rover to test mobility systems for future lunar vehicles.

 

Moon Base III, also targeted for this year, will carry Nasa’s Lunar Vertex science mission to study unusual bright formations known as lunar swirls, which scientists believe may be linked to magnetic fields beneath the moon’s surface.

 

The mission will also include payloads from the European Space Agency and the Korean Space Agency.

 

The contracts form part of Nasa’s broader Artemis programme, created during President Donald Trump’s first term, to expand humanity’s presence in space and support future deep-space exploration. 

 

Nasa’s Artemis II mission launched in April and sent four astronauts around the moon and back, becoming the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.