NASA unveils ambitious $20 billion plan to build moon base near lunar south pole

NASA announced ambitious long-range plans Tuesday to spend $20 billion over the next seven years to build a moon base near the lunar south pole featuring habitats, pressurized rovers and nuclear power systems. The announcement came just over a week before the planned launch of NASA's Artemis II around-the-moon mission.  In:

NASA announced ambitious long-range plans Tuesday to spend $20 billion over the next seven years to build a moon base near the lunar south pole featuring habitats, pressurized rovers and nuclear power systems. The announcement came just over a week before the planned launch of NASA's Artemis II around-the-moon mission. 

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman kicked off a series of meetings with contractors at NASA Headquarters in Washington saying he envisioned launching two moon landing missions per year to establish semi-permanent astronaut occupation on the lunar surface to explore, conduct research and develop the technology needed for eventual flights to Mars.

"This revised, step-by-step approach to learn, to build muscle memory, to bring down risk and gain confidence is exactly how NASA achieved the near impossible in the 1960s," he said, referring to the agency's Apollo program. "But this time, the goal is not flags and footprints. This time, the goal is to stay.

"Today, we are providing a demand for frequent crewed missions," well beyond the previously announced moon landings in 2028, Isaacman said. "We intend to work with no fewer than two launch providers with the aim of crewed landings every six months, with additional opportunities for new entrants in the years ahead. America will never again give up the moon."

The revised Artemis program was unveiled just a few weeks after Isaacman ordered major changes to near-term missions, adding a flight in low-Earth orbit next year to test rendezvous and docking procedures using Orion crew ships and moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin.