Nasa outlines 1st phase of building permanent base on Moon

American space agency Nasa on Tuesday outlined the first phase of building a permanent base on the Moon and announced three missions this year to deploy a range of payloads on the lunar surface. These payloads will include robotic landers, hopping drones, and lunar terrain vehicles (LTVs).

Ahead of the landing of astronauts under the Artemis programme and the eventual construction of a permanent base on the Moon, these payloads will be tested on the lunar surface to assess whether they are fit to perform their roles and safe for human use.

Nasa plans to land astronauts on the Moon as early as 2028. Following the landing, the agency will embark on the next phase of establishing a permanent base on the Moon in the early 2030s, including building infrastructure such as a power grid. This would allow astronauts in the third phase to stay on the Moon for extended periods in specialised permanent habitats later in the 2030s.

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As Firstpost’s Madhur Sharma has previously reported, the idea of the new space age is not just to plant a flag on the Moon, but to turn it into a base camp with a permanent presence for further exploration towards Mars and beyond.

In a statement, Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman described the Moon base as “America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world”.

“Every mission, crewed and uncrewed, will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable. We will go for the science, for all we stand to gain from an economic and technological perspective, for the innovations that will make life better here on Earth, and to prepare for where we will inevitably go next,” Isaacman added.

3 missions to be launched this year

Under the first mission to be launched no earlier than autumn, Nasa will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander to deliver stereo cameras to study how thrusters interact with the Moon’s surface, and the Laser Retroreflective Array, which helps orbiting spacecraft determine a more precise location using reflected laser light. The mission will land near the lunar south pole to demonstrate capabilities that reduce risk for future crewed Artemis landing missions.

Under the second mission, Nasa will deliver over 1,100 pounds of cargo on Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, including LTVs.

Under the third mission, Nasa will fly the first payload selected under the Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon initiative. The main payload, Lunar Vertex, will study light spots on the Moon’s surface to improve understanding of surface evolution and material behaviour under extreme conditions.

Additionally, the third mission will include payloads from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. Nasa said this collaboration reflected growing commercial and international participation in Moon base activities.

Nasa said these three missions are the first of more than a dozen to be announced this year.