NASA announced its first blueprint for its lunar base plans and revealed that the space agency is already ordering landers, rovers and drones for the lunar landing site.
During a lunar event on Tuesday at NASA headquarters in Washington, the agency shared new contracts for lunar rovers for crews to drive while also sharing target times for the launch of the first infrastructure.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will provide two astronauts to deliver lunar rover to the lunar surface near the southern tip of the moon. The two new rovers, which NASA calls lunar terrain vehicles, or LTVs, will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost.
The rovers will be able to drive up and down slopes of 20 degrees and have space to carry two astronauts. The rovers will be able to drive themselves in the absence of astronauts or be driven by drivers on Earth, controlling the wheel remotely.
It was also announced that Firefly Aerospace will deliver the first drones to the moon. The drones will help NASA “create a digital spatial map of the various lunar habitats and lunar bases,” according to Carlos Garcia-Galan, NASA’s chief of programs.
The hardware should arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on the moon, which is scheduled for early 2028, according to the space agency.
During April’s Artemis II mission, four astronauts flew to the moon, going deeper into space than the Apollo moon crews of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
On next year’s Artemis III, another crew of astronauts will practice putting NASA’s Orion capsule into orbit around Earth and the lunar habitats being developed for crew by Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
“The Moon Base will be America’s first human base on another celestial body,” said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman. “Every mission, manned and crewed, will be an opportunity to learn as we return to the lunar surface, build habitable infrastructure, and apply the skills necessary to live and work in the harshest and most dangerous environment imaginable.”
Get daily world news
Get daily Canadian news delivered to your inbox so you never miss the top stories of the day.
“We’re going to look at science, at everything we’re going to gain from an economic and technological point of view, with new things that will make life better here on Earth, and prepare where we’re going to go next,” continued Isaacman.
“We are grateful to President Trump’s leadership, the commitment of Congress, our industry and international partners, and the dedicated NASA employees who have the technology to enable us to achieve the nearly impossible.”
NASA is targeting Artemis III in mid-2027, with two astronauts arriving soon after in 2028, according to the space agency.
Moon Base I is targeted for launch before the fall of 2026 and will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander to deliver the equipment.
The equipment will include stereo cameras for the lunar plume-surface study tool to study how the thrusters interact with the lunar surface.
It will also use a laser retroreflective array, which helps orbiting spacecraft determine a more precise location using reflected laser light. The mission plans to land on the Shackleton Connecting Ridge to demonstrate risk-reducing capabilities for future crew trips by 2028.
The second phase of the moon base, from 2029 to the early 2030s, will begin building permanent infrastructure, including the power grid.
The mission will deliver more than 1,100 pounds of cargo to Astrobotic’s Griffin lander to help mature mobile systems that inform future lunar vehicles and operations.
As for when the base will be ready to support astronauts for a long time in special permanent habitats, that is expected sometime in the 2030s, during the third phase.
Its anchor probe will study lunar oscillations and bright spots on the moon’s surface to improve understanding of surface evolution and material behavior under extreme conditions.
The three missions are the first of more than a dozen to be announced this year, each designed to generate performance data and reduce risk ahead of the Artemis crew’s extraterrestrial missions, according to NASA.
Then we’ll know, ‘Hey, we’re here forever and we’re not stopping,’” Garcia-Galan said.
Garcia-Galan envisions a lunar base spread over hundreds of square miles, with a border marked by drones, called MoonFall, stationed at the corners.
The MoonFall mission will send four drones to fly short hops around the lunar surface as they explore potential locations for Artemis astronauts, according to NASA.
MoonFall, with a target launch of 2028, will send drones to land autonomously on the lunar surface and collect high-resolution images of the hard-to-reach area during a lunar day, a full-night cycle on the moon that lasts about 29.5 Earth days.
The purpose of the moon base is to promote the lunar economy while conducting scientific research and laying the groundwork for Mars travel, Isaacman said.
“For those who have been patiently waiting, a great comeback is imminent and we will not slow down,” added Isaacman. “Of course we’re starting.”
-via files from the Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
