NASA has reported a series of missions to build a base on the Moon — they will use rovers and drones for this

NASA has revealed its plans to build a massive $20 billion base on the moonʼs south pole. The agency has already ordered its first unmanned landers and rovers.

The details were revealed at an event dedicated to the construction of the Moon base, according to reports from NASA and the BBC.

Before humans go to the Moon, the space agency plans to send robotic landers and drones there to explore and map the Moonʼs complex terrain and reduce risks to manned Artemis missions. This phase is expected to last until 2029 and will include 25 launches and the delivery of 4 tons of cargo.

Hereʼs what the first three missions will look like:

Moon Base I. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than fall 2026. The mission will use Blue Originʼs Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander to deliver NASA cargo. Equipment includes the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies, which will study how thrusters affect the lunar surface, and the Laser Retroreflective Array, which helps orbiters more accurately determine their location using reflected laser light.

The mission will land on Shackleton Ridge to test technologies that will reduce the risks of future Artemis manned landings in 2028.

Moon Base II. Scheduled for launch later this year, the mission will deliver over 500 kg of cargo on Astroboticʼs Griffin lander, including Astrolabʼs FLIP rover. It will be used to develop propulsion systems that will form the basis for future lunar vehicle (LTV) operations.

Moon Base III. Also scheduled for this year. The mission will deliver to the Moon the first payload selected under NASAʼs Lunar Surface Payloads and Science Initiative. Its primary study, Lunar Vertex, will be conducted on Intuitive Machinesʼ Nova-C Trinity lunar lander and will study lunar vortices, or bright spots, on the Moonʼs surface to improve understanding of surface evolution and the behavior of materials under extreme conditions.

The mission will include payloads from ESA (European Space Agency) and the Korea Institute of Astronomy and Space Science.

NASA next wants to build nuclear and solar power plants on the Moon, including fission reactors. And by 2032, the space agency plans to have humans living on the Moon in “semi-permanent” habitat.

The satelliteʼs south pole was chosen to build the base because there is ice there from which water and oxygen can be extracted.

Development of lunar rovers

NASA has already awarded $219 million to Astrolab and $220 million to Lunar Outpost to build the first LTV lunar rovers, which are scheduled to be delivered to the lunar surface by 2028 as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Astrolabʼs CLV-1 rover, built on the FLEX platform, will be able to transport astronauts, cargo, and support remote operations. It weighs about 900 kg and has a speed of more than 10 kmph on a flat surface.

Meanwhile, Lunar Outpostʼs Pegasus is a lighter rover built to meet NASAʼs new requirements. It can operate for up to a year, be operated manually, autonomously, or remotely, and reach speeds of over 14 kmph.

NASA believes that early deployment of multiple LTVs will help test technologies more quickly, plan for future bases, and reduce risks to manned Artemis missions.

Over the next 18 months, the companies will complete the design of the rovers, test them with humans, and prepare the vehicles for flight. The LTVs will be used for autonomous navigation, terrain preparation, scientific research, and astronaut transportation.

To deliver these rovers to the lunar south pole, NASA also signed a contract with Blue Origin for $188 million, with the option to expand to $280.4 million.

Drones on the Moon

The agency also provided an update on the MoonFall mission, which will send four drones to the Moon in 2028 to conduct short-range missions to explore potential landing sites for Artemis astronauts. The development is being carried out by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the spacecraft to deliver the drones will be built by Firefly Aerospace.

The drones will land separately on the lunar surface and collect high-resolution images of the hard-to-reach terrain over the course of a single lunar day. After the flights are complete, their equipment will remain on the surface for several more months, specifically near the lunar south pole.

Artemis program to return humans to the Moon

NASA launched the Artemis program in 2017. Its main goal is to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972. In addition, the program wants to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moonʼs surface, as well as establish a permanent human presence on the Moon.

The first test flight, called Artemis I, was conducted in 2022. Then the unmanned Orion spacecraft flew around the Moon on the SLS superheavy rocket. This flight was conducted to test all integrated systems and thermal insulation before manned missions.

In April 2026, NASA launched the first manned mission, Artemis II. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency flew around the Moon aboard the Space Launch System. This was the first time humans had left Earthʼs orbit since 1972. The mission set a historic record by traveling 250 000 miles (406 764 km) from Earth. This was the farthest humans had ever traveled from the planet.

The main mission of the entire Artemis III program is planned for 2027 — the landing of astronauts on the surface of the satellite near the south pole.

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