Nasa conducted a press briefing today to unveil its intentions for establishing a lunar base, along with the commercial collaborators that will help realize this vision.
“People are once again looking skyward, believing in grand endeavors, and focusing on America’s return to the moon — this time for the long haul,” stated NASA administrator Jared Isaacman during Tuesday’s press conference.
The new initiatives build upon the success of last month’s Artemis II mission, which orbited the moon, and are integral to the Artemis program, aimed at putting humans back on the lunar surface.
This announcement follows Isaacman’s February disclosure about revamping operations at the space agency, which includes introducing an Artemis mission and temporarily halting the Lunar Gateway, a proposed space station intended to orbit the moon.
Canada’s MDA Space was set to contribute another robotic arm named Canadarm3 for the station.
The fresh plans for what NASA refers to as its Moon Base feature a lander assigned to Blue Origin, which will be a component of Moon Base 1, scheduled for launch later this year.
This illustration shows Blue Origin’s Mark 1 cargo lunar lander. (Blue Origin)
Moon Base 2 will incorporate lunar terrain vehicles (LTVs). The first vehicle will be supplied to Astrolab, and delivered by Astrobotic, while the second will go to Lunar Outpost. Both are commercial entities engaged in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which contracts private firms for various services.
Moreover, Moon Base 3 is expected to feature payloads from the European Space Agency and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute.
Several missions have already taken place within the CLPS program, with mixed success.
Additionally, the initiatives will include lunar drones developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with delivery handled by the commercial partner Firefly Aerospace.
With the world’s first successful commercial lunar lander touching down on the moon this week, CBC’s Bob McDonald and Nicole Mortillaro break down why it matters and how Canada is poised to become a major player in the commercial space exploration industry.
“We are collaborating with numerous international and commercial partners to harness the remarkable capabilities of the commercial sector in establishing a moon base to achieve our aspirations in this venture,” remarked Isaacman.
Canada was not mentioned in today’s briefing.
“We are engaging in many individual discussions with various international partners regarding the types of missions we could work on together,” stated Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s exploration systems development mission directorate. “There are ongoing discussions at this time.”
Numerous missions
The proposed initiatives are ambitious.
“We envisage the Moon Base to span hundreds of square miles, incorporating various assets, all aimed at achieving a permanent human presence on the moon,” commented Carlos García-Galán, program executive for the Moon Base.
“In Phase 1, we anticipate 25 launches, 21 landings, and we plan to deliver approximately four metric tonnes of cargo to the lunar surface,” García-Galán noted, adding, “Our goal is to increase that to between 60 and 150 metric tonnes by the time we reach Phase 3.”
The Artemis II crew (Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen) meets up with CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault in Montreal to answer questions from Canadians about their historic million-kilometre mission around the moon.
The intention is for these robotic missions to equip Artemis astronauts with essential tools. The inaugural mission to the lunar surface is designated as Artemis IV, which NASA anticipates will occur in 2028.
Gordon Osinski, a planetary geology professor at Western University and former head of the canceled Canadian rover mission, expressed support for the announcement.
“Building on the achievements of Artemis II and recent robotic lunar missions, I believe it is quite feasible that these first three moon-based missions could actually occur this year,” he remarked.
“I genuinely believe that what they aim to accomplish is attainable… In life, if you don’t set high aspirations, you will never reach them.”
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Regarding Canada’s participation, Osinski pointed out that the nation is not necessarily out of the competition. He mentioned that a larger rover is in the works, but that the Canadian Space Agency’s timeline is projected for the mid-2030s.
“We really need to step up our efforts in Canada to ensure we can keep pace with NASA. The speed of progress has increased, and NASA will not wait for us,” he cautioned.
More announcements are expected in the coming months, according to Isaacman, all in preparation for a sustained presence on the lunar surface.
“We are establishing humanity’s first outpost beyond Earth,” Glaze stated. “Through Artemis, we are going, and with Moon Base, we are going to remain.”
