US EditionNASA Unveils Plans for Permanent Moon Base and Nuclear Mars Mission
- On Tuesday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a major strategy overhaul in Washington, canceling the planned Lunar Gateway space station and committing $20 billion over seven years to build a permanent moon base.
- This shift accelerates the Artemis program, established during President Donald Trump's first term, to satisfy an executive order calling for a permanent lunar outpost by 2030 and maintain American leadership amid competition with China.
- Development will proceed in three phases, replacing one-off missions with a "templated approach that will generate significant learning through experimentation," Isaacman said, while NASA plans to launch the nuclear-powered Space Reactor 1 Freedom toward Mars by 2028.
- Repurposing Gateway components leaves future roles for Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency uncertain, while SpaceX and Blue Origin LLC continue developing lunar landers despite an extremely tight 2028 landing deadline.
- Future Artemis missions target a crewed cadence of every six months to support long-term exploration, a pace NASA leaders hope will inspire a new generation, mirroring the achievements of the Apollo program a half-century ago.
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The US space agency NASA has put forward very ambitious plans for the coming years. However, it is unclear whether these can actually be realised in view of budget cuts and privatisations.
Hartford Courant
Moon base, Mars helicopters, nuclear-powered spacecraft among future plans rolled out by NASA
“Returning to the moon and building a base will pale in comparison to what we will be capable of accomplishing in the years ahead," Isaacman said.
The idea is to focus on creating a base on lunar soil, for which $20 billion has been pledged.
NASA pauses plan to build a lunar space station to spend $20 billion on a lunar base
The lunar satellite, much of which was already built, will now be repurposed where possible. Permanent infrastructure on the moon is a major step in NASA’s long-term plans — and a stepping stone to get to Mars.
NASA announces 'near‑impossible' space plans, including $20B moon base and humanity's first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft
NASA's Gateway lunar space station won't launch next year in new changes to the Artemis program, which include ramping up development of a $20 billion moon base and a nuclear-powered 'Freedom' spacecraft.
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