NASA boss reveals plans for an entire VILLAGE on the moon by 2035

NASA^[1] will put an entire ‘village’ on the moon by 2035, according to the US space agency’s boss.

Sean Duffy, NASA administrator, has revealed plans to build a sustainable and permanent outpost on the lunar surface within the next decade.

Mr Duffy appeared on a panel at the International Aeronautical Congress^[2] (IAC) in Sydney^[3] alongside the heads of other international space agencies.

During the panel, he said: ‘We are going to have sustained human life on the moon.

‘Not just an outpost, but a village.’

As early as February next year, NASA will launch the Artemis II mission^[4] and send four astronauts on the first lunar trip in over 50 years.

While Artemis II will not land on the moon’s surface, NASA’s ultimate goal is to establish a long-term base on the moon^[5].

That base will likely be nuclear-powered, capable of housing astronauts on a permanent basis, and built out of the materials found on the lunar surface.  

Asked what success would look like for NASA in a decade, Mr Duffy said: ‘We are going to have sustained human life on the moon.’ This comes as the space agency prepares for its first missions to the lunar surface since the end of the Apollo programme 

Acting NASA director Sean Duffy (pictured) has said the space agency will build a ‘village’ on the moon by 2035

This year, the theme of the IAC conference was ‘Sustainable Space: Resilient Earth’, which Mr Duffy took to mean how NASA could sustain life in space.

While the heads of the European, Canadian, and Japanese space agencies talked up how their satellites were helping climate research, NASA focused exclusively on space exploration.

In addition to revealing his plans for the moon, Mr Duffy also made bold claims about the US’s ambitions for Mars.

Asked what success looks like for NASA in a decade, Mr Duffy said that the agency would have ‘made leaps and bounds on our mission to get to Mars.’

He also predicted that the US would be ‘on the cusp of putting human boots on Mars.’

However, NASA’s more immediate goal is to put humans back on the moon for the first time^[6] since the Apollo missions concluded in 1972.

During the Artemis II mission next February, astronauts will test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft that will eventually carry humans to the moon.

Over 10 days, the crew will travel 5,700 miles (9,200 km) past the moon, testing the onboard systems and gathering data on their bodies’ reactions, before returning to Earth.

Sean Duffy, NASA administrator, has revealed plans to build a sustainable and permanent outpost on the lunar surface within the next decade (AI image)

As early as February 2026, NASA will launch the Artemis II mission and send four astronauts on a mission to orbit the moon. Their goal is to test the equipment and systems that will be used in a lunar landing scheduled for mid-2027

But the big test for NASA will come in mid-2027 with the launch of Artemis III, which plans to land two astronauts at a site near the moon’s south pole.

Unlike the Apollo missions, which spent up to 22 hours on the lunar surface, Artemis III will require astronauts to live on the moon for around seven days.

The data they collect on the geology and conditions around the South Pole will all be used to prepare for the ultimate goal of constructing a permanent base on the moon.

Although the technical details are still unclear, what that lunar base might look like is starting to take shape.

In August, Mr Duffy launched a directive, calling for the US to become the first nation to put a nuclear reactor on the moon^[7].

Following that, NASA has now issued a Request For Information (RFI), asking companies to register their interest in building the reactor.

Dubbed the Fission Surface Power System, NASA says this reactor will need to weigh less than 15 tonnes and be capable of producing 100kWe of power^[8].

That is enough energy to power a lunar base through the 14-day lunar nights, during which solar panels will be ineffective.

This comes after NASA issued a directive calling for the USA to become the first nation to deploy a nuclear reactor on the moon to support a permanent lunar settlement. Pictured: A NASA rendering of a potential lunar nuclear reactor design 

Any reactor that proves itself useful on the moon will also be valuable for future Martian exploration missions, where the extreme distances require humans to stay on the surface for long periods.

NASA has also begun to research the materials which could be used to create the structure of the base.

In a recent experiment, astronauts on the ISS practised cement mixing techniques to see how well they worked in conditions outside of Earth’s gravity^[9].

In a statement, NASA officials said one option for building the moon base could be ‘using the microgravity environment to mix lunar soil with other materials to make cement and build habitable structures on the moon^[10].’

If that proves viable, the base could be 3D printed by machines sent to the moon on rockets, using only the lunar soil and water found at the South Pole site.  

Despite fears that President Donald Trump would lose interest in missions to the moon, under Mr Duffy, NASA has taken an increasingly bold stance on lunar exploration.

In a recent statement, Mr Duffy said that NASA would ‘win the second space race’ against China through the Artemis programme.

Dr Duffy said: ‘We’re going back to the Moon, and this time, when we plant our flag, we stay.’

WHAT WAS THE APOLLO PROGRAMME?^[11]

This NASA photo taken on July 16, 1969 shows the huge, 363ft tall Apollo 11 rocket launched from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center

Apollo was the NASA programme that launched in 1961 and got the first man on the moon eight years later.

The first four flights tested the equipment for the Apollo Program and six of the other seven flights managed to land on the moon.

The first manned mission to the moon was Apollo 8 which circled around it on Christmas Eve in 1968 but did not land.

The crew of Apollo 9 spent ten days orbiting Earth and completed the first manned flight of the lunar module – the section of the Apollo rocket that would later land Neil Armstrong on the moon.  

The Apollo 11 mission was the first one to land on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969.

The capsule landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, carrying mission commander Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.

Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins remained in orbit around the moon. 

When Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon, he said, ‘That’s one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind.’

Apollo 12 landed later that year on November 19 on the Ocean of Storms.

Apollo 13 was to be the third mission to land on the moon, but just under 56 hours into flight, an oxygen tank explosion forced the crew to cancel the lunar landing and move into the Aquarius lunar module to return back to Earth.  

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned lunar mission in the Apollo space program, and considered at the time the most successful manned space flight up to that moment because of its long duration and greater emphasis on scientific exploration than had been possible on previous missions. 

The last Apollo moon landing happened in 1972 after a total of 12 astronauts had touched down on the lunar surface.

Astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin is pictured unpacking experiments from the lunar module on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. He was photographed by Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969

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