NASA’s Moon Base Just Got Real

Ajouté : 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]So, I'm at NASA headquarters in Washington DC where administrator Jared Isaacman is about to unveil his plans to build a base on the moon.

[00:00:14]>> What we are embarking upon is extremely challenging.

[00:00:18]>> Three moonbased missions by the end of this year, two lunar rovers, and nearly a billion dollars in contracts. is about to get real. I had a chance to ask Jared a question and I'll share it in just a sec. But first, let's start with the size of this thing. NASA says this base will be hundreds of square miles and I'll let the chief moon base architect, what a title, right? Explain why.

[00:00:42]>> Yes. So, I think there's a very important point about the moon, which is there's no one spot that does all the exploration objectives. There's no one spot that covers all the science, all the technology, all the um habitation needs of the surface. And even within the local area, you have to consider the terrain. So you'll have the habitats on the tops of the hills where they get sunlight. You know, power systems, nuclear systems need to be a kilometer or more away for the radiation protection. So all of these things when you start putting them together end up sprawling a little bit more like a city as you start building it out.

[00:01:15]>> Makes perfect sense when you hear it explained like that, right? That was the answer that got me the most excited about how this space is going to look.

[00:01:24]Because as Jared pointed out, we aren't going to see any of the big glass domes on the moon anytime soon. And here's why.

[00:01:31]>> We know so little from what is a combined 80 hours of lunar astronaut EVA time across the Apollo missions. And that was more than a half century ago.

[00:01:40]So we are not jumping right into the glass dome moon base as a service. We intend to take an iterative approach.

[00:01:46]That iterative approach starts with the newly named mission moon base 1. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin was already planning to launch its Mark1 lunar lander this year. Now, that mission has just essentially been folded into NASA's official Moonbase architecture and rebranded as Moon Base 1. And I think it was a smart move. And so does this little moth that just flew by.

[00:02:10]>> Now, Moonbase 1 will be the first privately funded lunar lander mission in history. The Blue Origin Mark1 Endurance lander will deliver multiple payloads to the Shackleton connecting ridge, a strategic area of the lunar south pole.

[00:02:24]>> So, Moonbase 1 will happen this fall at the earliest. Then, Moon Base 2 with Astrobotics Griffin Lander and then Moon Base 3 with Intuitive Machines's Nova Sea. So, that's three robotic uncrrewed missions to the moon by the end of this year hopefully. Then NASA announced the awards for the moonbased rovers. You know, the little cars that the Aremis astronauts are going to get to drive around in. The technical term for them is lunar terrain vehicles or LTVs.

[00:02:56]>> So, I'm going to get ready to announce the first LTV award winner, and that is Astrolab. The second LTV provider, which I'm going to announce now, is Lunar Outpost. Congratulations.

[00:03:12]>> It was like the Oscars but for moonbased contracts. Another big winner, Firefly Aerospace, the first company to ever successfully land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon. Firefly actually won a really cool contract to deliver drones to the moon. These drones are called Moonfall and they can be used to make maps of the surface of the moon, search for water, even become the first cell towers on the moon. But the use case that caught the most attention was this slide. It shows the drones creating a perimeter around the moon base itself, which raises a really important and obvious question. What exactly is the perimeter for? Or maybe the better question is who is it trying to keep out?

[00:03:57]>> So Carlos referenced the moonbased perimeter. Um, and I'm just curious, you know, having looked at the Artemis Accords, is this a safety zone you're trying to create?

[00:04:07]And are these areas basically where non-artmous accord signitories, you know, should keep out of? Thanks.

[00:04:15]>> I think it's important for us to uh to get there first. And I and I mean when I when I say that, meaning let's let's get there and actually achieve the what the what we're intending to do with these uh hopper drones. Uh it is a first of its kind, which is why JPL is tackling this.

[00:04:31]But I I think the idea that um there are areas of great interest on the lunar surface, we we do want to get there and explore them. And we also obviously want to be uh very mindful of the outer space treaty so that we are respectful of uh of uh other nations that are putting assets on the on the lunar surface. We would expect that to be reciprocal.

[00:04:51]>> The outer space treaty has been around since 1967.

[00:04:56]It says that no nation can own the moon, but it doesn't say anything about building on the moon. So, whoever builds first has a huge advantage. And remember, the United States is currently in a second space race, this time with China. And China wants to build a base in the exact same spot, the moon's south pole, for the exact same reasons that NASA wants it, water. But China's also considering something that NASA's not talking about. Another base inside a lava tube. If you haven't heard about lava tubes, they are these giant underground caves, some big enough to fit an entire city. If the reason to build on the South Pole is water, the reason to build in lava tubes is protection from radiation, from meteorite strikes, from those wild temperature swings that you get on the surface. It's why companies like Lonear are planning to build data centers inside these lava tubes. I actually made a whole video about it right here. So, up until this point in NASA's moon base update, everything had been about building a base on the surface of the moon, but I wanted to see if there were any discussions whatsoever about someday building a base beneath it. Kristen Fischer with the Endless Void. My question is for Jared. Um Jared, China has said that it's studying lava tubes as potential sites for future bases.

[00:06:19]They just put about 28 tygonauts through cave training for about a month. And so my question is, is are there any discussions taking place right now at NASA about exploring lava tubes, underground lava tubes as a possible site for a future second base? uh or is everything focused squarely on the moon's south pole? Thanks.

[00:06:43]>> Well, I would say that we are very focused on the first moon base, but uh we we in in these conversations we do discuss that we are uh aspiring to have a lot of outposts uh on the lunar surface and I think um cave exploration has been part of at various times our own astronaut program uh training as well. So we we certainly see value in uh in that environment. And I don't know if you'd like to add anything, Lori.

[00:07:09]>> Yeah, I mean, I think you hit on it there. We have actually done a lot of work in the past at looking at caves for being able to protect crew, human crew from radiation, the harsh radiation environment. Um, so certainly there's been a lot of research there. Um, and certainly something that could be part of, as you said, as we start to expand our reach, uh, could be part of that.

[00:07:28]>> For now, the focus is squarely on the moon south pole and construction should start in 2029. So, this whole era of just talking about a moon base is almost over. Now, it's time to actually build it. And it starts with robots and uncrrewed landers that the scouts bringing the supplies. Then come the humans. And those first humans will be the crew of Artemis 4. They're tenatively set to land sometime in 2028.

[00:07:54]But first, Artemis 3 has to fly. And get this, NASA just announced that the Artemis 3 crew will be revealed on June 9th. I mean, there is so much happening at NASA right now. It's such an exciting time. Such an exciting time to be covering space, to be into space. Let me know in the comments who y'all think NASA will select for the Aremis 3 crew.

[00:08:19]And I'll see youall next time.