Nasa has selected Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin to conduct the first of three uncrewed lunar missions planned for this year, as part of ambitious plans to build a $20bn moon base. The announcement was made by Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman at a press conference in Washington DC on Tuesday.
The three missions scheduled for 2026 will be followed by more than a dozen additional flights in subsequent years to test systems and equipment. Isaacman said the successful Artemis II mission last month, which sent four astronauts around the moon for the first time since 1972, had catalysed and incentivised the moon base plan. 'People are looking up again, believing in big things again, and paying attention as America returns to the moon again, and this time to stay,' he said.
Blue Origin has been awarded $230.4m to support each of its first two moon base missions, but will largely fund the operations itself. The first mission, as early as fall, will use Blue Origin's Endurance cryogenically propelled cargo lander to deliver multiple scientific payloads to the Shackleton de Gerlache Ridge area of the moon's south pole. Isaacman described it as 'the first privately funded lunar lander mission in history'.
Nasa also announced smaller contracts with companies including Lunar Outpost and Firefly Aerospace, which in March last year became the first private operator to make a successful moon touchdown with its Blue Ghost lander. The agency's 'blueprint for an enduring lunar presence' targets establishing a base with 'operating capability' between 2029 and 2032, with a 'semi-permanent presence' following in 2032 or beyond.
The moon base project is part of Donald Trump's national space policy, which includes accelerating the Artemis program to achieve the next human moon landing ahead of China, establishing a permanently habitable lunar base, and developing a nuclear space reactor. Partnerships with private operators are expected to reduce costs to taxpayers and create a thriving space economy.
