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NASA has officially announced its lunar base Back in March 2026 She has worked on several projects simultaneously to advance the goal of putting people on the Moon in a more sustainable capacity.
On Tuesday, NASA provided reporters with some updates on how this plan will be implemented during that period Press conference and question and answer session.
The overall tone was positive as NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Moon Base Program Director Carlos Garcia Galán discussed NASA’s upcoming plans and answered questions about whether those plans had been affected by recent events, such as the disaster. A sudden explosion of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket During a ground test in late May.
The explosion caused significant damage to Blue Origin’s only launch pad, and there were concerns that this could set back NASA’s plans for a moon base since the damage would take some time to repair. Some Moon Base missions are set up to use New Glenn as a launch vehicle.
Garcia Galan and Isaacman said everything is still going according to plan.
“Blue Origin’s response to the situation has been almost as impressive,” Isaacman said. “They’re making great progress, so Plan A is still to launch (the Mark 1 lunar lander) at New Glenn. We have time. They’re very committed to getting back to launching New Glenn before the end of the year.”
Garcia-Galan said three lunar landers were in advanced stages of development, including the Blue Origin Mark 1 lunar lander, the Astrobotic Griffin Lander, and the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander. This was in response to reports that Blue Origin’s lunar lander was More than half a year Behind schedule.
The Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander was the first commercial lander to successfully land on the lunar surface.
NASA is also busy making sure plenty of scientific research is done during all of these missions. Agency Awarding several new contracts For several scientific instruments, including a camera array to map the displacement of lunar dust during landings, a reflector array to help guide incoming spacecraft waiting in orbit, and LETS, a spectrometer that measures the radiation environment on the Moon.
It’s all part of the first phase of NASA’s plan for a moon baseIt is scheduled to end in 2029, immediately followed by phases two and three, culminating in a permanent, long-term human presence on the moon.
Other NASA missions are on schedule as well
The moon base took center stage, but Isaacman and García Galán still made time to talk about other things happening at NASA. The Artemis III mission remains on schedule. NASA Choose the crew in early June and spent the rest of the month pool and to gather All parts needed to launch the mission in 2027.
The goal is to put everything together according to what NASA calls it, Isaacman said “Wet” dress rehearsals. By the end of 2026, Artemis IV’s hardware was already in the early stages of assembly and testing.
NASA is considering repurposing the Promise Rover for use on the Moon after years of using it as a troubleshooting platform for the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.
NASA has one surprise up its sleeve. Isaacman and García Galán suggested that NASA might repurpose its third Mars rover as a lunar rover instead.
Many people who follow science and space are familiar with curiousity and perseverance Rovers currently deployed on Mars. The third rover, called Promise, is largely unknown because it is currently used as a development and troubleshooting platform for the other two rovers by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The goal, if NASA follows through, is to power Promise with nuclear power and launch it on the moon to collect data, just like its siblings on Mars.
“Having a nuclear radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) on the (moon base) allows us to go anywhere we want, regardless of the lighting,” García Galán said. “Surviving the lunar night is one of the big challenges, and with this ability, we won’t have to worry about that.”
Promise’s life up to this point has been testing repairs and troubleshooting techniques before it is sent to Curiosity and Perseverance on Mars, but NASA says the JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) team has enough experience to no longer need it, freeing Promise to do something else.
“We have years of experience operating rovers on Mars, and we have this hardware that taxpayers have invested a lot in,” Isaacman said. “So the question was asked, what if we sent it to the moon? JPL is great at these good ideas.”
The vehicle will add more capacity and payload, giving astronauts another tool for exploring the lunar surface, especially during lunar night. It lasts approximately two weeks, making any solar-powered solutions almost useless for long-range flights.
