Blue Origin · Artemis Program · South Korea · Engadget
NASA gears up for up to three more lunar missions before the end of 2026
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◎ Multiple-sources
The missions will deliver payloads to the lunar surface and test equipment from Blue Origin and Astrolab.
Key facts
- Both Astrolab and Lunar Outpost have been awarded contracts to develop and build lunar terrain vehicles (LTV), to the tune of $219 million and $220 million, respectively
- The first mission, Moon Base the reporter, is supposed to launch no earlier than fall 2026, and will deliver payloads including a Lunar Plume-Surface Studies instrument and cameras using a Blue Origin Blue Moon
- Finally, at some other point in 2026, Moon Base III will use Intuitive Machine's Nova-C Trinity lander to study lunar swirls and drop off payloads for the European Space Agency and the Korea
- NASA has shared a preliminary (and seemingly ambitious) schedule for the first three Moon Base missions
Summary
NASA has shared a preliminary (and seemingly ambitious) schedule for the first three Moon Base missions. The first mission, Moon Base the reporter, is supposed to launch no earlier than fall 2026, and will deliver payloads including a Lunar Plume-Surface Studies instrument and cameras using a Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander. NASA maintains multiple different contracts for both the delivery of payloads and the development of the rovers and landers, which can make tracking who's doing what complicated. These new missions to test lunar landers and rovers are part of an updated schedule NASA announced in February, that delayed humans' return to the lunar surface until 2028.