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

NASA unveiled a $20 billion plan for a permanent lunar base, announcing three missions this year to deliver rovers, science payloads, and infrastructure. The program aims to prepare for astronaut landings in 2028 and establish sustained human presence by 2032 

Washington: After a successful lunar flyaround, NASA has announced three missions to the moon as part of efforts to establish a permanent base on the earth’s natural satellite.

At a press conference here, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Tuesday unveiled a USD 20 billion plan to set up a permanent base on the moon, equipped with lunar rovers and drones, for carrying out experiments that would help master skills to live and operate in the dangerous environment.

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“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 has announced its goal to set up a lunar base in March and listed out concrete steps on Tuesday. NASA aims to land astronauts on the moon in 2028.

The space agency said it has selected Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander for the Moon Base-I mission planned no earlier than fall this year (September).

The mission will deliver equipment, such as Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies to study how thrusters interact with the moon’s surface and the Laser Retroreflective Array, which helps orbiting spacecraft determine a more precise location using reflected laser light.

The mission will land on the Shackleton Connecting Ridge to demonstrate capabilities that reduce risk for future crewed Artemis landing missions in 2028.

In April, four astronauts went around the moon as part of the Artemis-II mission, which became the first human spaceflight to travel beyond low earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission of 1972. Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last astronauts to walk on the moon in 1972.

The Moon Base II mission, planned for launch later this year, will deliver more than 1,100 pounds of cargo on Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, including Astrolab’s FLIP rover, to mature mobility systems that inform future lunar terrain vehicle, or LTV, operations.

The Moon Base III mission, also targeted for this year, will carry NASA’s Lunar Vertex science mission to study mysterious lunar swirls — bright formations scientists believe may be linked to magnetic fields beneath the lunar surface — along with payloads from the European Space Agency and the Korean Space Agency.

Under the three-phased programme, NASA will test technologies and prepare for surface operations over the next three years. It also aims to deliver at least one lunar terrain vehicle for use by astronauts expected to return to the lunar surface in 2028 as part of the Artemis-III mission.

The moon base’s second phase, from 2029 to 2032, will start building up the permanent infrastructure, including a power grid.

The third phase from 2032 and beyond is expected to see scaling up operations to achieve a sustained presence, with 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,'” said NASA’s moon base programme executive Carlos Garcia-Galan.