NASA has unveiled details of its ambitious three-phase mission to build a base on the moon, announcing hundred-million-dollar contracts to US companies to build landers, drones, and rovers for the moon.
The agency detailed its $20 billion plan to establish its “Moon Base” in the lunar South Pole region during a press conference on Tuesday, US time.
“America is returning to the moon,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.
“We are working alongside our many international and commercial partners to leverage the incredible capabilities from the commercial industry to build a moon base.”
NASA said plans to build the base incrementally, with the first of three phases already underway.
“We are not jumping right into the glass dome moon base as a service,” Mr Isaacman said.
Under phase one, the agency will launch a series of robotic missions to scout the lunar South Pole region and test technologies.
Carlos García-Galán, NASA’s program executive for the Moon Base, said the phase will include 25 launches and 21 landings, and will see about four metric tons of cargo sent to the moon’s surface.
“From now through (20) 29, we’re going to work to make sure that getting to the lunar surface is a high-reliability endeavour,” said Mr García-Galán.
“We’re also going to test and experiment the science of survival … We’re going to experiment on the things that we know are ahead of us that we’re going to need to build a permanent infrastructure.”
Blue Origin, the company owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has been chosen to send its Mark 1 Endurance lander to deliver equipment to a strategic area of the lunar south pole. The company was awarded an initial $188 million contract.
A lander built by Astrobotic will also be used transport a rover and over 1000 pounds of cargo to the moon during this initial phase.
NASA also awarded Astrolab $219 million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to deliver the fist phase of lunar terrain vehicles (LTVs).
During the second phase, slated to take place between 2029 and 2032, NASA plans to establish early infrastructure on the lunar surface.
“In phase two, we will be building permanent infrastructure, including laying out a power grid and things like that, all building up to what it takes to do permeant habitation,” said Mr García-Galán.
In the third phase, set to take place in 2032 and beyond, NASA aims to achieve a sustained lunar presence “with routine crew rotations and continuous surface activity”.
“Then we’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re permanently here, and we’re not giving it up,’” Mr Garcia-Galan said.
Mr Isaacman acknowledged the Moon Base project – which will lay the foundation for an expedition to Mars – will be challenging, saying the moon’s surface is “as beautiful as it is hostile”.
”In sunlight, the surface can heat to over 250 degrees. In darkness, it can drop well below -200. In the permanently shadowed craters – areas of great interest that have been untouched by sunlight for millions, even billions of years – temperatures can fall well below -400 degrees.”
“There is no atmosphere to moderate these extremes, no protection from radiation and solar particle events.”
The announcement comes after NASA’s successful Artemis II mission, which saw four astronauts orbit around the moon for the first time since 1972.
Meanwhile, China if soaring ahead with a rival effort to send humans to the Moon by 2030.
This week, the Chinese Manned Space Agency (CMSA) launched its crewed Shenzhou-23 spacecraft and eased it into a successful docking with the Tiangong space station.
During this mission, the crew is set to carry out numerous scientific projects in life sciences, materials science, fluid physics and medicine.
A Chinese astronaut is also scheduled to spend a full year in orbit on the Tiangong space station, a crucial first in the Chinese lunar landing program.
Chins has significantly expanded its space programs over the last 30 years, injecting billions of dollars into the sector in order to catch up with the US, Russia and Europe.
In 2019, China landed a spacecraft, the Chang’e-4 probe, on the far side of the Moon – a world first.
Then in 2021, it landed a small rover on Mars.
China has been formally excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) since 2011, when the United States banned NASA from collaborating with Beijing, prompting the Asian giant to develop its own space station project.
– With AFP
