Nasa selects Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin for first of three uncrewed lunar missions

Three uncrewed lunar missions are planned for 2026 to start construction of a $20bn moon base. Additional missions will follow in later years to test systems and equipment. The first mission is expected as early as fall and will be conducted by Blue Origin, selected ahead of SpaceX. Blue Origin will receive $230.4m to support each of its first two moon base missions, with NASA largely funding operations. The approach will not immediately build a glass dome base, instead using an iterative method that sends demand signals to industry for landers, rovers, and technology demonstrations, along with scientific payloads. The plan is framed as applying NASA’s 1960s playbook to learn what works on the moon.

"We are not jumping right into the glass dome moon base. We intend to take an iterative approach, sending a demand signal to industry for a lot of landers and rovers and tech demonstrations, and all the scientific payloads these missions can accommodate, Isaacman said. We are leveraging the Nasa playbook from the 1960s, figuring out what works and what doesn't in this epic science of survival, because the moon base is as beautiful as it is hostile."

"The revelation by Nasa's administrator, Jared Isaacman, at a press conference in Washington DC marked the first detailed public explanation of how and when the moon base will be built. He said the three missions planned for 2026 would be followed by more than a dozen more in the coming years to test systems and equipment. He said the highly successful Artemis II mission last month that sent four astronauts around the moon for the first time since 1972 had been both a catalyst and incentive to advance the moon base plan."

"The headline announcement was the selection of Bezos's Blue Origin company to conduct the first mission, as early as fall. It has been awarded $230.4m to support each of its first two moon base missions, Nasa said, but will largely fund the operation itself. Moon Base One will be the first privately funded lunar lander mission in history, Isaacman said."

"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. He added, without mentioning any names, that the agency had been having the tough conversations with those failing to meet expectations since the Artemis splashdown on 10 April."

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