NASA first – NASA laid out the first phase of its moon base plans, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies to build landers, lunar buggies, and drones. The hardware is intended to arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on the m
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Less than two months after Artemis II’s record-breaking lunar flyaround, NASA is already placing the pieces of its moon base on a fast-moving track: landers to reach the lunar surface, buggies to roam it, and drones to mark the perimeter.
On Tuesday. the space agency detailed the first phase of its moon base plans and awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies. Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers designed to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface at a spot near the moon’s south pole. Those so-called lunar terrain vehicles will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost.
Firefly Aerospace, which landed successfully on the moon last year, will deliver the first drones.
NASA’s schedule is built around the Artemis timeline already taking shape. The agency says the hardware is ideally supposed to arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on the moon, planned for as early as 2028.
The urgency comes as NASA continues moving toward the next milestones. During April’s Artemis II mission. four astronauts flew around the moon. traveling deeper into space than the Apollo moon crews did during the late 1960s and early 1970s. For next year’s Artemis III. another team of astronauts will practice docking NASA’s Orion capsule in orbit around Earth with the lunar landers being developed for crews by Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
NASA is targeting Artemis III for mid-2027, with a landing by two astronauts following as soon as 2028.
The base itself is planned in phases. The second phase, running from 2029 into the early 2030s, will begin building up the permanent infrastructure, including a power grid. Specialized permanent habitats meant to support astronauts for extended periods are expected sometime in the 2030s, during the third phase.
“They’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re permanently here and we’re not giving it up,’” Carlos Garcia-Galan, NASA’s moon base program executive, said.
Garcia-Galan envisions a moon base sprawling over hundreds of square miles, with a perimeter marked by drones dubbed MoonFall stationed at the corners.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the territory markers are meant to be respectful of other countries’ spacecraft and equipment that might be nearby, and he expects reciprocity in the matter.
The agency’s stated aim is to encourage a lunar economy while conducting scientific research and laying the foundation for a Mars expedition. Isaacman put the tone directly as the contracts move from planning to production: “For those waiting patiently. the grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down. We are really just getting started.”.
The hardware and timelines NASA set out Tuesday are more than engineering milestones. They are a declaration that the moon base is no longer just a concept following Artemis—it’s a project being built around a landing schedule that officials say can start as early as 2028.
NASA Artemis II Artemis III Moon base Blue Origin Astrolab Lunar Outpost Firefly Aerospace SpaceX lunar drones MoonFall lunar terrain vehicles Orion capsule