NASA to launch three moon missions by end of 2026 with uncrewed landers.

NASA has provided a major update on its plans for a permanent moon base on the lunar surface NASA has delivered a major announcement regarding its ambitions for a lunar base designed to maintain a continuous human presence on the moon's surface. This significant development comes on the heels of last month's historic Artemis II mission triumph, which saw a four-person crew venture deeper into space than any humans before them. NASA chief Jared Isaacman described the "grand return" to lunar exploration as drawing increasingly near. He noted that the space agency will be "figuring out what works and what doesn't" as the Moon base represents an environment that is as "beautiful as it is hostile", reports the Express. Mr Isaacman announced that three moon missions - Moon Base I, II, III - will be launching by end of 2026 with uncrewed landers. Mr Isaacman outlined the challenges: "In sunlight, the surface can heat to over 250C. In darkness, it can drop well below -200C," Isaacman says. "In the permanently shaded craters, [there are] areas of great interest that have been untouched by sunlight for millions, even billions of years... "There is no atmosphere to moderate these extremes, no protection from radiation and solar particle events, and the surface is exposed to meteorite impacts, including the kind of light flashes the Artemis II crew observed from orbit." Mr Isaacman outlined the three phases to the agency's Moon Base plans and said a website for the initiative was launched two hours ago. The three phases are summarised as follows on the newly launched website: Phase One (Now - 2029): Experiment and Learn NASA will begin with a rapid series of robotic missions to scout the lunar South Pole region, test technologies, and prepare for surface operations ahead of future astronaut missions. Phase Two (2029 - 2032): Early Habitation By 2029, NASA will transition to assembling semi-permanent infrastructure and initiating early habitation and logistics operations. Phase Three (2032 and beyond): Sustained Human Presence This phase will scale operations to achieve a true enduring presence, with routine crew rotations and continuous surface activity. This is when living and working on the Moon becomes a reality. Carlos García-Galán, programme executive for Moon Base, announced that the project will rely on Blue Origin for parts of the hardware. The space technology company is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and rivals Elon Musk's SpaceX. Blue Origin was selected to produce so-called LTV delivery landers, Mr García-Galán said. He added that NASA envisions that the base will be "hundreds of square miles".

Future spacecraft could use a single propellant to perform both rapid movements and slow, highly controlled adjustments.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes fell on Tuesday as a rebound in technology shares faded.

Alphabet entered a cloud service agreement with SpaceX to pay $920 million per month for 200 megawatts of capacity from October 2026 through June 2029.