June 27, 2026

NASA Eyes Moon Base Powered by Solar Panels and Nuclear Reactors

With major plans for space travel, several governments are proposing lunar energy production, including solar and nuclear projects. In May, NASA announced plans to send robotic landers, hopping drones, and vehicles to the moon as part of the United States government’s plans to develop a lunar base.

NASA is expected to develop the machines alongside Intuitive Machines, Astrobotic, Blue Origin, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The United States aims to land its astronauts back on the moon before President Donald Trump leaves office in 2029, 60 years after it first achieved the feat.

In March, NASA announced a $20 billion programme to develop a permanent base powered by nuclear and solar energy at the Moon’s south pole by 2032. The creation of a base would allow the United States to conduct scientific experiments, potentially mine valuable resources, and assess the feasibility of a journey to Mars. NASA recently experienced success when it sent Artemis II around the Moon in April.

Before sending humans to the Moon, NASA aims to send robotic landers and hopping drones to the surface to assess its terrain. It also plans to transport delivery vehicles capable of driving astronauts across the lunar surface and carrying communications and scientific instruments.

NASA hopes to use Blue Origin's lunar lander Endurance to conduct precise landings, as well as Astrobotic’s Gryphon-1 lander. The agency expects to carry out 25 launches and transport around 4 metric tonnes of cargo to the Moon by 2029. It then aims to develop nuclear and solar power facilities on the Moon, including fission reactors.

More ambitiously, NASA wants to establish conditions for humans to live on the moon in “semi-permanent” housing by as early as 2032. It believes that the Moon’s South Pole could offer suitable conditions, as frozen water could be used for drinking water or to produce oxygen.

However, many have criticised NASA, suggesting that its timeline is likely unrealistic. Simeon Barber, a Lunar Scientist at the United Kingdom’s Open University, said, “It would not surprise me at all if China gets there first.” Barber cited NASA’s delays in acquiring a spacecraft capable of landing humans on the Moon. “The limiting step is getting the astronauts down onto the surface… It sounds to me like [NASA] feels they’re in a position where they have to start saying they’ve got plans. So, I think there’s a lot of political drive behind this,” added Barber.

The U.S. space agency is competing with China to become the first country to return humans to Earth’s surface, with China having set a 2030 deadline. China has already sent astronauts to its space station nearly a dozen times, and it is getting more ambitious in its plans to achieve a human lunar landing.

In May, China launched its Shenzhou-23 spacecraft to transport a crew of three astronauts to its Tiangong space station. One of the astronauts is set to stay in the space station for a year, a record length for the country. This will help researchers to assess long-duration human physiology in space, including the physiological effects of radiation exposure, bone density loss, and psychological stress.

Many speculate that the Chinese government aims to colonise and mine lunar territory and resources, although Beijing has rejected these claims. To achieve its 2030 goals, China must develop suitable new hardware and software for a lunar mission, as its current technology was developed for low-Earth orbit. China has so far sent only robots to the moon. However, its regular space missions are helping to improve the country’s space capabilities.

In June 2024, China became the first country to recover lunar samples from the far side of the moon, using robots. If China achieves a human landing by 2030, it aims to develop a permanent base on the moon with Russia by 2035. Compared with the NASA timeline, China’s deadline is considered more conservative. Beijing is focusing closely on safety tests of all aspects of its lunar technology.

China is also conducting the world’s first human artificial embryo experiment in space, having transported human stem cell samples to the Shenzhou-22 crew to assess the long-term residence, survival, and reproduction of humans in space. “The human artificial embryo is made of human stem cells as raw materials,” explained Yu Leqian, the project leader for the artificial embryo space science experiment. “This is not a real human embryo and does not have the ability to develop into an individual. However, it can serve as a model for studying early human development,” added Yu.

The space race is back on, with the United States and China competing to achieve the first 21st-century human moon landing. If successful, each country plans to establish a base, generate power, and eventually create conditions for humans to live semi-permanently on the Moon.