The NASA administrator said the space agency wants to increase its presence on the moon with robot landers.
While it hasn’t been formally announced, Administrator Jared Isaacman said in an interview on CNBC that NASA is hoping to launch robotic lander missions to the moon on a monthly basis starting in 2027.
On CNBC’s “Squackbox,” Isaacman said the missions will have “small robotic landers and rovers. Starting in 2027, we’re going to try to work up to an almost monthly cadence of uncrewed landings as we start building out the moon base infrastructure.”
Don Platt, the director of Spaceport Education Center at Florida Tech, said that while in the past year there has been concern for NASA’s budget and the future of NASA, these robots would help the agency.
Platt said having a monthly lander program supports NASA’s goal of having long-term human presence on the moon.
“I think that things are looking a little brighter,” Platt said. “I think it's brand new, so we have to look at the details, but I think this will offer opportunities for a variety of groups to really get involved here in lunar exploration. And so, I think that'll really benefit NASA and the country.”
The robotic landers would also support programs at NASA, like its Commercial Lunar Payload Services and a proposed permanent base on the moon, outlined in an executive order by the White House.
“I think it's pretty clear that the priority is the moon,” Platt said. “And obviously we need to learn a lot about the moon, more than we can do with just a few human missions.
“So, I think it's very important to have monthly robotic missions to the moon to essentially set the stage for a more robust and long-term human program in the near future, too.”
This monthly lunar lander proposal also comes just after NASA changed its Artemis mission process. Now instead of Artemis III landing a crew on the moon, the third mission will be a test mission. Artemis IV -- planned for early 2028 -- will be the first time NASA will bring humans back to the moon since the Apollo missions.
Platt said putting landers on the moon frequently will also support the commercial elements behind lunar exploration.
“I think that's the next step,” Platt said. “NASA has sort of opened up the Low Earth Orbit commercial world with their various contracts, like the resupply contract to the International Space Station. So, it would make sense that they would start trying to enable the same sort of commercial development at the moon now, too.”
