NASA outlines multi‑phase moon base plan with landers, rovers and drones

NASA’s first‑phase hardware plan

NASA unveiled a multi‑year, three‑phase roadmap for a permanent lunar outpost. The agency said it has already set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for contracts with four U.S. firms to deliver the essential hardware for the base’s initial stage. Blue Origin will contribute two landers that will ferry lunar terrain vehicles—being built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost—to a site near the Moon’s south pole. Firefly Aerospace, which successfully landed a payload on the Moon last year, will send the first autonomous drones to the lunar surface.

“Then we’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re permanently here and we’re not giving it up,’” said NASA’s moon base program executive Carlos Garcia‑Galan.

The contracts are timed to precede the crewed Artemis III mission, which NASA is targeting for mid‑2027. The agency expects the first astronauts to land on the Moon as early as 2028, giving the newly delivered landers, rovers and drones a chance to be in place before the historic touchdown.

“The grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “We are really just getting started.” Isaacman added that the base’s perimeter will be marked by the “MoonFall” drones, a gesture meant to respect other nations’ spacecraft and equipment that may be operating nearby.

Beyond the hardware, NASA outlined how the base will evolve. Phase 2, slated for 2029 into the early 2030s, will focus on building permanent infrastructure, including a power grid. Phase 3, in the 2030s, envisions permanent habitats capable of supporting extended astronaut stays. The agency frames the project as a catalyst for a lunar economy, a platform for scientific research and a stepping stone toward a crewed Mars expedition.

Context and next steps

The announcement follows the Artemis II mission, during which four astronauts completed a record‑breaking lunar flyby, traveling farther from Earth than any crewed spacecraft since the Apollo era. Artemis III will practice docking the Orion capsule with lunar landers developed by both Blue Origin and SpaceX, setting the operational foundation for crewed landings. The hardware awards announced Tuesday are part of the broader effort to turn the Moon from a destination of short visits into a sustainable outpost that can host humans for months at a time.