An artist’s concept of Phase 3 of NASA’s moon base project, planned to take place from 2033 to 2036. [Credit: NASA]
Key Takeaways:
NASA is pausing development of the Lunar Gateway space station to instead focus on building a permanent human base on the moon's surface, repurposing existing Gateway components and international partner commitments.
The ambitious moon base project, estimated to cost $20-30 billion over the next decade, aims for continuous human presence by 2032 through a three-phase plan.
The plan includes starting semi-annual crewed missions to the moon in 2028 and leveraging commercial partners for delivering crucial infrastructure like rovers, drones, power, communication systems, and eventually habitats and resource extraction capabilities.
NASA is demanding high performance and adherence to schedules from its commercial contractors, indicating a strict approach and a re-engineered workforce to support this expedited lunar objective.
Over the next decade, NASA plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on what one official called “humanity’s first deep-space outpost.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman kicked off the space agency’s “Ignition” event Tuesday with the revelation that it will pause work on the Lunar Gateway space station, a sizable portion of which has already been built by contractors.
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Jack is a staff writer covering advanced air mobility, including everything from drones to unmanned aircraft systems to space travel—and a whole lot more. He spent close to two years reporting on drone delivery for FreightWaves, covering the biggest news and developments in the space and connecting with industry executives and experts. Jack is also a basketball aficionado, a frequent traveler and a lover of all things logistics.
