NASA takes steps toward building Moon Base, including discussing a 'perimeter'

Source: Ars Technica

“What we are embarking upon is extremely challenging,” Isaacman said. “We know so little from what is a combined 80 hours of lunar astronaut EVA time across the Apollo missions, and that was more than a half century ago.”

One of the central elements of the early Moon Base program is the development of the MoonFall program. The plan calls for three or four drones, each about 1 meter tall and weighing 225 kg (including propellant). NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is leading the development, and the drones will be delivered to the lunar surface by Firefly Aerospace, according to Garcia‑Galan.

The goal is to have these spacecraft on the Moon before the Artemis IV lunar landing mission, scheduled for no earlier than 2028, to provide high‑resolution imagery of the lunar surface. Current imagery resolution for most of the Moon is 1 meter; NASA aims to improve that to 1 cm.

Establishing a perimeter

These drones will perform several functions, including:

• Scouting for water ice in permanently shadowed regions
• Identifying areas of scientific interest
• Providing detailed information about landing sites (soil mechanics, lighting conditions, terrain)

At the end of their flying lifetime, the drones would be used to set a boundary for the Moon Base.

“We’re hoping to … establish a Moon Base perimeter with four or three lunar drones,” Garcia‑Galan said. “We’re going to be able to basically put them at the corners of the areas where we think we have either key scientific objectives, or we want to build up the Moon Base.” In these positions, the retired drones could also serve as beacons with retro‑reflectors, or perhaps even the first lunar cell towers.