NASA plans lunar air traffic control as moon base contracts awarded

NASA is preparing for a busy lunar neighbourhood, with plans for a spaceport in orbit and a permanent base on the moon's south pole. New research outlines how spacecraft will avoid collisions near the Gateway station, while contracts for landers, rovers and drones have been awarded. The first astronauts could land as soon as 2028.

Bottom line — NASA's Artemis programme aims for a permanent moon base by the 2030s, with landers, rovers and drones already under contract.

Go deeper (7)

• A study in Acta Astronautica proposes a 'string of pearls' formation, where spacecraft share data to stay safely spaced near Gateway, per The Week.
• Gateway will orbit in a near-rectilinear halo orbit, passing within 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of the moon's north pole and extending about 40,000 miles (64,000 km) past the south pole, per Popular Science.
• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Artemis IV will return astronauts to the moon's surface in 2028, with a base built in three phases, per the Ames Tribune.
• The first phase, ending in 2029, will test landers and rovers at the south pole, with a willingness to fail, said Carlos García-Galán, the moon base project manager, per the Ames Tribune.
• Blue Origin will deliver two landers for moon buggies built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost, while Firefly Aerospace will send drones, per Arizona Public Media.
• The moon base's second phase, from 2029 into the early 2030s, will build infrastructure including a power grid, with permanent habitats expected in the 2030s, per the Ames Tribune.
• NASA's Jared Isaacman said the base will be 'humanity's first enduring outposts in another world', with a perimeter marked by drones called MoonFall, per the Ames Tribune.

Read the reporting