NASA Announces Three-Phase Plan and 2026 Robotic Missions for Proposed Lunar Base Near South Pole

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman announced plans to establish a permanent lunar base during a press conference at the agency’s headquarters in Washington DC on 26 May 2026. Three uncrewed missions will launch later this year to begin searching for a suitable site near the lunar south pole.

The first mission, Moon Base I, is scheduled for the end of 2026 and will carry a lander built by Blue Origin.

Moon Base II and III will follow in 2026 with landers from Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines. Astrobotic will fly its Griffin lander and an autonomous rover; Intuitive Machines will provide its own lander. These initial flights will study the surface in detail to reduce risks for later landings and will test autonomous rovers.

None of the 2026 missions will carry crew. The overall programme is divided into three phases. Phase one runs until 2029 and aims to secure reliable access to the lunar surface. Phase two continues until 2032 to achieve initial moon-base operating capability.

Phase three, ending by 2036, will see construction of the base itself. At least nine additional missions will be announced before 2027. The completed base is planned to cover hundreds of square kilometres.

NASA also awarded more than $200 million each to Astrolab and Lunar Outpost under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services programme to develop lunar-terrain vehicles. Astrolab’s vehicle is a bulkier, human-operated design that can carry nearly 1000 kilograms and travel at nearly 10 kilometres per hour. Lunar Outpost’s vehicle will exceed 14 km/h and operate autonomously.

The MoonFall mission, scheduled for 2028, will send four drones built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Firefly Aerospace will supply the spacecraft that carries the drones to the moon; the drones will make short hops to collect high-resolution images for future Artemis landing sites.

Previous NASA administrator Sean Duffy had announced plans for a nuclear fission reactor on the lunar surface by 2030, but the 26 May announcement contained no updates on power systems, construction methods, or radiation shielding.