NASA Announces Multi-Phase Lunar Base Plan Targeting 2036

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman announced plans to establish a permanent presence on the moon during a press conference at NASA headquarters in Washington DC on 26 May. Three missions to build a lunar base are targeted for launch in 2026, with at least nine more to be announced before 2027. The overall lunar base programme consists of three phases.

Phase one lasts until 2029 to secure reliable access to the moon’s surface. Phase two lasts until 2032 for initial moon base operating capability. The actual base is to be built near the lunar south pole in phase three, lasting up to 2036.

This year’s missions will not be crewed. They will study the lunar surface in detail to reduce risks for future landing missions and test autonomous rovers to help guide the design of future moon vehicles. The first mission, Moon Base I, will launch towards the end of 2026 and will use a lander built by Blue Origin, which has not yet tested a lunar lander.

Moon Base II and III are planned for launch in 2026, though with no announced launch window yet. Astrobotic will launch its Griffin lander and an autonomous rover for one of the 2026 missions. Intuitive Machines will provide a lander for one of the 2026 missions; the company has attempted two lunar landings, neither of which were fully successful.

Astrolab and Lunar Outpost will each be given more than $200 million to develop future lunar-terrain vehicles as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services programme. Astrolab’s lunar-terrain vehicle is a bulkier, human-operated design capable of carrying nearly 1000 kilograms and will travel at nearly 10 kilometres per hour.

Lunar Outpost’s lunar-terrain vehicle will travel at more than 14 km/h and will be capable of moving autonomously.

The MoonFall mission will see four drones make short hopping journeys across the lunar surface in 2028. The drones will take high-resolution pictures to find suitable landing sites for future Artemis missions. NASA will make the MoonFall drones in-house at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

Firefly Aerospace will build the spacecraft that takes the MoonFall drones from Earth to the moon. Artemis II sent four astronauts on a path around the moon and back to Earth in April 2026.