NASA announces the launch of the new Moon Base program, which is intended to serve as a preparatory stage for establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon and future crewed missions under the Artemis program, scheduled roughly for 2028.
Source: Gazeta.UA
The agency stated that more than 10 missions under the Moon Base program will be presented this year, with the first three flights targeting the Moon’s south pole.
The first mission, Moon Base I, is scheduled no earlier than autumn 2026. It will use the Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander from Blue Origin to deliver NASA scientific equipment. Among the instruments are systems to study the impact of landing engines on the lunar surface and high-precision devices for determining the coordinates of orbital spacecraft.
The next mission, Moon Base II, is set to take place later this year. The Griffin lander from Astrobotic will deliver more than 500 kg of payload, including the FLIP rover from Astrolab. NASA plans to use the mission to prepare future transport systems for astronauts.
The Moon Base III mission is also planned for this year and includes the delivery of equipment from NASA, ESA, and the Korea Institute of Astronomy and Space Science. One of the key instruments will be Lunar Vertex, which will study so-called lunar “swirls” — bright areas on the Moon’s surface whose nature has not yet been fully explained.
Separately, NASA announced cooperation with Firefly Aerospace on a 2028 mission, under which four MoonFall drones are planned to be delivered to the Moon to image hard-to-reach regions.
The agency also signed new contracts for the development of lunar rovers: Astrolab will receive $219 million for the crewed CLV-1 rover, Lunar Outpost — $220 million for the lighter Pegasus rover, and Blue Origin — another $188 million to deliver these vehicles to the lunar surface.
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