Mankind to dwell on the Moon inside seven years, says NASA
US space agency unveils £24 billion plans to have astronauts living in first Moon base by 2033 with British companies potentially providing power and communications links
The Moon is said to be slowing down the Earth(Image: Roberto Moiola/Getty Images)
Mankind will live on the Moon within seven years, NASA chiefs say. The US space agency wants astronauts living permanently on the surface by 2033.
The plan comes after Artemis II’s first successful manned lunar orbit since 1972. It will cost £24bn to create a permanent Moon base. But NASA administrator Jared Isaacman told the agency’s US and international partners at a briefing: “It’s time to start believing again. This time the goal is not flags and footprints. This time the goal is to stay.” Phase one of the project is already under way with small commercial landers delivering cargo and science equipment to the Moon’s south pole in preparation for a landing by astronauts in 2028.
Over the next two years pioneer probes and rovers will map the terrain, search for ice that could be used as water, monitor radiation levels, drill below the surface, hunt for resources and test communications.
They will also collect crucial ascent and descent data to make landings safer for crewed missions and study how Moon dust is kicked up on landing.
Solar panels for power and navigational beacons will arrive.
The first Moon communications satellite – the Brit-built Lunar Pathfinder – will be launched next year to give astronauts a reliable link to Earth even when they are on the far side – what has been a dead zone for crews.
Andrew Cawthorne, chief executive of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited which is building the communicator, said: “If you can’t see the Earth then you can’t talk to it so Lunar Pathfinder will provide that relay.
“Everybody here is super excited. We’ve been building satellites for 40 years but this is our first Moon foray.”
Next year nine more cargo landers will ferry equipment including heaters, nuclear power generators, communication systems and NASA’s resource-prospecting VIPER rover to the Moon.
The spacecraft that will land astronauts will be tested in orbit in the Artemis III mission expected in mid-2027.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin are vying to get the first mission.
If the landers prove reliable, Artemis IV and V missions will land astronauts on the surface in 2028.
From 2029 the building of the Moon base will start.
By 2032 NASA plans to have a large pressurised rover in operation – a jumbo space truck that can act as a mobile home for astronauts. It is being built by Toyota and Japanese space agency JAXA.
The base will be located at the south pole as it has water in ice form.
But are different from the Apollo landing sites with extreme periods of cold and dark and a 14-day night.
Perpetual Atomics, a spin-off from the University of Leicester, is hoping to supply power for a Moon base.
While Buckinghamshire-based Pulsar Fusion is developing a nuclear fusion propulsion device to dock with any spacecraft to provide substantial power.
