NASA unveils $20 billion moon base plans ahead of Artemis 2 launch
NASA has unveiled new plans to build a $20 billion moon base near the lunar south pole in the years ahead.
Eric Lagatta- The plan cancels the Gateway lunar space station, with its resources being repurposed for the surface base.
- Development will occur in three phases, starting with robotic missions and leading to a permanent human presence.
- The Artemis program now targets a human moon landing no earlier than 2028.
NASA has unveiled revamped plans to build a moon base near the lunar south pole that will one day allow for American astronauts to have a permanent presence on Earth's celestial neighbor.
The vision for creating a lunar settlement for astronauts to live and work has never been a secret, as NASA has long made clear that's been one of the chief goals of its Artemis program. But for the first time, the U.S. space agency has detailed specifics about the plan, including a phased roadmap, while also revealing a new Mars mission targeted for 2028.
Announced Tuesday, March 24, the new plans also now require canceling the construction and deployment of a space station in lunar orbit, NASA said. Components from that project will instead go toward building a $20 billion base on the moon's surface.
The overhaul is the latest instance in which the U.S. space agency has reshaped its lunar program under NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who assumed leadership in December as an appointee of President Donald Trump.
The reimagined lunar program, which still includes plans for an increased cadence of human moon landings beginning in 2028, also comes amid a heated space race to the moon between the U.S. and China.
“NASA is committed to achieving the near‑impossible once again, to return to the moon before the end of President Trump’s term, build a moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership in space," Isaacman said in a statement. "The clock is running in this great‑power competition, and success or failure will be measured in months, not years.”
Here's everything to know about NASA's moon base plans.
NASA announces $20 billion moon base plans
As Isaacman said at a daylong event Tuesday, March 24 at NASA's Washington, D.C., headquarters, “the moon base will not appear overnight.”
Instead, development of the settlement will occur over three phases that begins with increasing the amount of lunar missions in the next few years – sending rovers and other technology to test things like mobility, communications and nuclear power generation capabilities on the surface.
After that, rocket launches will help deliver "semi‑habitable infrastructure" and transportation like rovers to support "recurring astronaut operations on the surface," NASA said. Only then will NASA have established the ability to support a long-duration human presence on the moon by delivering heavier infrastructure needed for an actual base of operations.
To accomplish the feat, NASA said it will lean on its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which involves the agency contracting privately-managed lunar missions.
"We will invest approximately $20 billion over the next seven years and build it over dozens of missions, working together with commercial and international partners towards a deliberate and achievable plan," Isaacman said.
Lunar base plans replaces Gateway
The new lunar base plans also call for pausing work with international partners to develop the Gateway space station to orbit the moon, Isaacman said.
The Gateway station was designed to serve as both a research platform and a transfer station that astronauts would use to board the moon landers before descending to the lunar surface, Reuters reported.
Instead, NASA will repurpose Gateway resources to create the base on the moon's surface.
NASA targets 2028 moon landing under Artemis lunar program
Established during Trump's first term, NASA's Artemis lunar program is the space agency's ambitious campaign to return American astronauts to the surface of the moon for the first time since the Apollo era came to an end in 1972.
A human moon landing is now targeted for no earlier than 2028 under the Artemis 4 mission.
NASA leaders announced the updated target timeframe at the end of February while also unveiling a new mission under the lunar program now known as Artemis 3. Planned for 2027, that mission will involve sending a crew of astronauts to Earth orbit in an Orion capsule, where they will meet and dock with at least one of the lunar landers being developed by billionaire-owned Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Before those missions, though, NASA is potentially days away from the first crewed mission of the program, Artemis 2. Slated for as early as April 1, the mission will send three Americans and one Canadian on a 10-day trip around the moon following a launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida using the 322-foot Space Launch System rocket.
Ultimately, NASA aims to establish a permanent lunar base near the moon's south pole to facilitate exploration and, eventually, the first human expeditions to Mars.
NASA targets moon landings every six months
In the years ahead, NASA leaders are targeting more frequent moon landing missions – both with and without astronauts.
NASA and its commercial partners have landed three robotic vehicles on the moon since 2024 and have at least four more missions planned in 2026. But in 2027, NASA plans to dramatically increase the number of robotic landers carrying cargo and science instruments with up to 30 uncrewed landings.
After the Artemis 5 mission, the aim is for NASA to initially undertake crewed surface missions at least every six months, "with the potential to increase cadence as capabilities mature," the agency said.
Contributing: Rick Neale, FLORIDA TODAY; Reuters
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]