A whole fleet of moon landers and rovers will arrive on the lunar surface at a rapid clip over the next few years if NASA can accomplish its ambitious vision.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.The agency announced Tuesday that it has awarded yet another round of contracts to private space companies for upcoming moon missions, this time for lunar landers to carry science equipment to the moon’s surface in late 2028.The announcement is the latest in a stream of similar awards as NASA ramps up planned flights to the moon in preparation to build a base there.
The collective goal of the various missions planned over the next two years is to test technologies and scope out locations to inform NASA’s lunar construction plans.Last month, it announced a set of funding awards totaling nearly $1 billion for the first uncrewed missions in its moon base program.
In all, NASA plans to spend $20 billion on the project over the next seven years.The recent updates send a clear message: NASA is all in on establishing a permanent presence on the moon, and it intends to do so on a tight timeline, relying heavily on commercial partnerships.An artist's rendering of development of a conceptual moon base near the lunar south pole.NASA“These new awards to our commercial partners, totaling nearly $600 million to land more missions on the moon with science payloads, demonstrate our commitment to accelerating our effort to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface, and give us more opportunity to develop the skills we need to prosper there,” Lori Glaze, NASA’s associate administrator for the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, said in a statement.On Tuesday, Isaacman also hinted that a test version of a NASA Mars rover might be repurposed to send to the lunar surface.“Those that know our Mars rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance — well, there is another,” he said, adding that the test unit is named...