Getting back to the moon is one thing. Building a base there is the harder part, and NASA says that work is already underway.

NASA hopes to return humans to the lunar surface in 2028, but this time the agency says it wants to move beyond short visits and eventually build a moon base that can support a permanent settlement.

The agency announced the $20 billion plan in March, then gave an update on Tuesday with new details about development and the private companies picked for the first phase.

“America is returning to the moon,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.

“For all we hope to accomplish in this endeavor, what we are embarking upon is extremely challenging, and we know so little from what is a combined 80 hours of lunar astronaut EVA [extravehicular activity] time across the Apollo missions, and that was more than a half century ago.”

Isaacman said the moon base would be built in phases and incrementally.

“We are not jumping right into the glass dome moon base as a service,” Isaacman said. “Because the moon base is as beautiful as it is hostile,” he added.

He said the moon’s surface can reach more than 250 degrees in sunlight and drop below minus 250 degrees in darkness. He also said the moon has no atmosphere, leaving it exposed to radiation, space weather and meteorite impacts.

“Recognizing this reality, I’m often asked why we send our astronauts into such harsh and dangerous and unforgiving environment of space or the lunar surface, and at such great cost. And we go for the technology we will pioneer to get there, the science, and all that we will learn that will make life better here on earth to advance humankind on this great adventure, to inspire the next generation to do it better than we can, and to be very clear, to master the skills for where we will inevitably go next,” Isaacman said.

NASA said the initial development of the moon base will unfold over three phases, beginning now and running to 2032 and beyond.

Carlos García-Galán, NASA program executive for the Moon Base, said Phase 1 is already in progress.

“Phase 1 has already started. From now through 29, we’re going to work to make sure that getting to the lunar surface is a high-reliability endeavor, many assets we can deliver there. We’re also going to test and experiment the science of survival, as the administrator said. We’re going to experiment on the things that we know are ahead of us that we’re going to need to build a permanent infrastructure, which is happening on phase two, and then permanent habitation on phase three,” García-Galán said.

For Phase 1, NASA expects 25 launches and 21 landings. The agency plans to send about 4 metric tons of cargo to the lunar surface during that stretch, then scale up in Phases 2 and 3.

NASA said private contractors will handle much of the work. On Tuesday, the agency outlined the first three Moon Base missions and the companies involved.

For Moon Base I, Blue Origin will provide a lunar lander called the Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance Lander. NASA said it hopes to launch the mission no earlier than fall 2026, and that it will send scientific payloads to the moon’s south pole region.

Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based aerospace company, is building a second lander for Moon Base II. NASA said it will deliver more than 1,100 pounds of cargo to the lunar surface.

Moon Base III is also planned for 2026 and “will fly the first payload selected through NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon initiative,” according to NASA. The agency said that mission will also carry payloads from the European Space Agency and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute.

NASA has also awarded Astrolab and Lunar Outpost a combined $439 million to build and deliver lunar terrain vehicles for Artemis astronauts to drive on the lunar surface during visits. The vehicles can carry two people, travel between 6 and 9 miles per hour, and operate autonomously or manually.

Blue Origin will deliver the rovers to the lunar surface under a contract worth up to $280 million. NASA said it wants at least one there before the Artemis IV astronauts arrive.

NASA also plans a 2028 mission called Moonfall, which will send four drones to study the lunar surface and identify natural resources and possible landing sites. The drones will also be used to create a “Moon Base perimeter” to mark the corners of a possible settlement site. Firefly Aerospace has the contract to build the spacecraft that will carry the drones to the moon.

“For Phase 1, Moon Base is just a demonstration of capability. We hope this will work out and we’ll be able to evolve that capability,” García-Galán said.

“I’m picturing the future of Moon Base, where we’re starting to plan areas we’re going to send the crews or rovers to robotically go to a specific crater or area of interest.”

Isaacman said NASA is also trying to build a “lunar economy” because he does not think the government can do it alone.

“I don’t believe that we are going to have the true kind of space-faring world we may have imagined as children reading science fiction books, if it’s perpetually funded by taxpayers. So, it is vitally important that we figure out what generates value either in the unique environment of microgravity or on the lunar surface in excess of the cost that it takes to go into it,” Isaacman said.

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