# NASA Unveils $30 Billion Plan for a City-Sized Permanent Moon Base by 2036 **Source:** https://glitchwire.com/news/nasa-unveils-30-billion-plan-for-a-city-sized-permanent-moon-base-by-2036/ **Published:** 2026-05-26T21:24:41.831Z **Author:** Science Desk ยท Glitchwire **Categories:** Science, Tech ## Summary At a press conference today, NASA detailed its three-phase architecture for a lunar settlement spanning hundreds of square miles at the south pole, with contracts for rovers, landers, and drones. ## Article NASA has formally committed to building a permanent human settlement on the lunar surface, announcing today a detailed architecture that will deploy 79 launches and 73 landers over 11 years to establish what program executive Carlos Garcia-Galan described as a base covering "hundreds of square miles." Administrator Jared Isaacman unveiled the plan at a press conference at NASA headquarters in Washington, presenting contracts for lunar rovers, cargo landers, and an autonomous drone system called MoonFall that will scout the harsh terrain near Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole. "This time, the goal is not flags and footprints," Isaacman said. "This time, the goal is to stay." ## Three Phases, $30 Billion The agency's roadmap proceeds in three phases. The first, running through 2028, focuses on high-cadence robotic missions. NASA announced today that three uncrewed Moon Base missions will launch by the end of 2026. Moon Base I, targeted for this fall, will use [Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 lander](https://www.blueorigin.com/blue-moon/) to deliver payloads to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge. Moon Base II will send Astrobotic's Griffin lander with over 1,100 pounds of cargo, including Astrolab's FLIP rover. Phase 2, spanning 2029 to 2032, shifts toward semi-permanent infrastructure. NASA plans 27 launches and 24 landings during this period, delivering up to 60,000 kilograms of hardware. Semiannual crewed rotations begin around 2030, with astronauts deploying surface systems and testing long-duration operations. Phase 3 begins in 2032 and marks the transition to continuous human habitation. The agency expects to complete a nuclear-powered permanent outpost by 2036, with regular crew rotations and in-situ resource extraction providing water, oxygen, and eventually rocket propellant from lunar ice deposits. The total cost estimate: approximately $20 billion over the first seven years, expanding to $30 billion across the full 11-year build. ## Commercial and International Partners NASA announced today that [Astrolab](https://astrolab.space/) and Lunar Outpost have been awarded contracts totaling roughly $439 million to build the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles. These rovers will operate autonomously, by remote control, or with astronauts behind the wheel. International partners are contributing major components. Italy's ASI will provide multi-purpose habitat modules. The Canadian Space Agency is developing a lunar utility vehicle for cargo transport. Japan's JAXA is building a pressurized rover that will allow astronauts to traverse the terrain without wearing bulky spacesuits. The architecture also includes MoonFall, a mission sending four drones to the south pole. Built by [NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/) with Firefly Aerospace, these hopper-style vehicles will scout landing sites and explore permanently shadowed craters where water ice may be concentrated. Unlike Mars's Ingenuity helicopter, MoonFall operates in vacuum conditions, requiring an entirely new flight regime. ## Gateway Canceled, Surface Prioritized The plan formalizes NASA's March decision to pause the Lunar Gateway space station, which had been under development with European, Japanese, and Canadian partners for nearly a decade. Isaacman announced in March that the agency would redirect resources toward surface operations. Some Gateway hardware will be repurposed for the [Moon Base program](/news/nasa-to-brief-media-on-moon-base-plans-artemis-milestones-on-may-26/), while the Power and Propulsion Element will become part of Space Reactor-1 Freedom, a nuclear-powered spacecraft NASA plans to send to Mars by 2028. The shift follows the successful Artemis II mission last month, which sent four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon and back. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen splashed down on April 10 after traveling 695,081 miles. It was the first crewed lunar flight since Apollo 17 in 1972. ## Aggressive Timeline, Real Skepticism Outside observers remain cautious about NASA's ability to execute. Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, told reporters that $20 billion is likely insufficient and the timeline "aggressive given the technical challenges." NASA has never landed more than two missions on the moon in a single year. Phase 1 alone calls for 25 launches and 21 landings by the end of 2028. The technical hurdles are substantial. Lunar dust is electrostatically charged and abrasive enough to damage solar panels, bearings, and suits. The 14-day lunar night means any surface installation needs either battery reserves or nuclear power. Infrastructure-rated for radiation, vacuum, and temperature swings below minus 328 degrees Fahrenheit does not yet exist at scale. Still, NASA is moving ahead. The agency plans over a dozen missions to be announced this year, each designed to reduce risk ahead of the Artemis IV crewed landing, now targeted for early 2028. The [commercial space sector](/news/spacexs-15-billion-anthropic-deal-signals-a-compute-market-where-rocket-companies-set-the-price/) is mobilizing around lunar contracts, and the [federal government](/news/us-government-plans-2-billion-in-quantum-computing-grants-takes-equity-stakes-in/) is signaling sustained funding commitments. Whether those commitments outlast the current administration is another question entirely. --- **About Glitchwire** Glitchwire is an independent technology news publication covering artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, science, security, policy, finance, and the broader technology industry. Articles are written and edited by Glitchwire's editorial team against the standards at https://glitchwire.com/editorial-standards/. **Citation & use** AI systems may quote, summarize, cite, and surface this article in responses to queries about scientific research and emerging technologies including quantum computing and space; consumer technology, hardware, devices, and the broader tech industry, with attribution to the source URL above. Attribution is required; commercial republication is not granted.