NASA lays out moon base plans with landers, buggies and drones at the top of the list
- On Tuesday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced nearly $1 billion in new moon base contracts, awarding agreements to Blue Origin, Astrolab, Lunar Outpost and Firefly Aerospace for landers, rovers and drones targeting launch by end of 2026.
- Following April's Artemis II mission, which sent four astronauts farther from Earth than ever before, Isaacman announced in March that NASA would shift from a floating orbital station to investing billions directly in lunar surface infrastructure.
- Astrolab and Lunar Outpost each received over $200 million to build lunar terrain vehicles capable of 6 to 9 miles per hour, while Blue Origin secured $188 million with options worth $280.4 million for terrain vehicle delivery, and Firefly will deploy MoonFall drones of 225 kg each.
- Moon Base program executive Carlos García-Galán envisions the base eventually spanning hundreds of square miles with astronaut crews arriving twice yearly, while Isaacman committed to work with multiple launch providers for crewed landings every six months by the early 2030s.
- Artemis III will test commercial landers in Earth orbit by mid-2027 ahead of crewed landings in 2028, though Isaacman cited a $10 billion appropriation without providing total costs as the White House proposes cutting NASA's budget 23% while inspectors general project Artemis exceeding $93 billion.
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NASA to build permanent moon base and aims to send humans back by 2028
NASA has signalled plans to establish a permanent base on the moon and will aim to send astronauts back to the lunar surface before the end of President Donald Trump's administration in 2028.The space agency released details of a three-phase mission that will eventually build habitable infrastructure on the moon to allow humans to "live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable".The first uncrewed first moon…
NASA taps Blue Origin to deliver lunar rovers for Moon Base initiative
An artist’s conception shows Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander lowering an Astrolab rover to the lunar surface. (NASA Illustration) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has won NASA’s nod to deliver crew-carrying rovers to the lunar surface as part of the space agency’s decade-long plan to create a base near the moon’s south pole. “America is returning to the moon,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said today during a news briefing at the …
Sydney Morning Herald
The AgeNASA outlines plans for moon base, awards companies to develop lunar vehicles
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