NASA intends to create a habitable American station on the Moon by 2032, its head Jared Isaacman announced.
According to the plans presented at a press conference, in the first phase, which will last until 2029, NASA expects to send several preparatory manned and unmanned missions to “ensure reliable access to the lunar surface and conduct experiments“.
In the second phase, which is expected to last from 2029 to 2032, NASA will create temporary and long-term habitable infrastructure on the Moon and move to establishing a temporary presence.
In the third phase, starting in By 2032, NASA is expected to “establish a permanent presence with periodic crew rotation“.
In the first phase, NASA plans to launch three unmanned lunar base missions to the Moon. In the first mission, scheduled for this fall, NASA plans to use a lander developed by Blue Origin to deliver instruments to the Moon to study its surface and the effects of its landing engines on the Moon's surface.
The second mission is planned to deliver an unmanned rover developed by Astrolab to the Moon using Astrobotic's Griffin lander. The third mission, using a lander developed by Intuitive Machines, is planned to deliver equipment to study changes in the Moon's surface, along with other payloads. They will be provided by the European Space Agency and the Korea Institute of Space Science and Astronomy. The second and third missions are also scheduled to launch before the end of 2026.
“These are just the first of more than a dozen missions we plan to announce throughout the year,“ Isaacman emphasized. “Each manned and unmanned mission will provide an opportunity to learn lessons to return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay there, and hone the skills needed to live and work in some of the most challenging and dangerous environments imaginable,“ the head of the US space agency noted.“