NASA Envisions A Massive Moon Base Patrolled By Autonomous Drones

Controlling the moon helps dominate Earth. The U.S. and China are locked in an intensifying “space race” to establish the first permanent, crewed base at the moon’s south pole which is believed to contain large amounts of water ice.

Both nations are developing separate, multibillion-dollar lunar outposts to secure strategic resources, establish future space norms, and lay the groundwork for crewed missions to Mars.

President Trump, who pushed for the creation of Space Force during his first term, has taken a particular interest in getting us back to the moon first.

A December 2025, Trump executive order told NASA to turn its exploration focus to the moon. According to this order, the space agency’s priorities should include landing people on the moon by 2028 and starting a permanent lunar outpost by 2030. This should lead to a moon colony by 2036.

NASA’s Artemis program plans to build a permanent base in a step-by-step approach by 2032, powered by nuclear and solar energy. The U.S. is using private aerospace companies like Blue Origin to develop rovers (lunar terrain vehicles), landers, and hopping drones. NASA aims to land astronauts on the surface by 2028.

China is targeting its first crewed lunar landing by 2030 and is developing its own base — the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) — in collaboration with Russia.

America’s Artemis lunar base plans, part of America’s “grand return” to the moon are extensive and impressive. And NASA just announced several contracts to build critical elements like landers, rovers, and surface drones.

NASA plans to build the moon base in three phases. 

Phase One runs from now through 2029, will gather detailed information and “secure reliable access” to the lunar surface. Phase Two runs from 2029 to 2032 and will set up the base’s “initial operating capability.” Phase Three, which runs from 2032 far into the future, will “achieve semi-permanent crew presence” on the moon.

The base will ultimately cover ‘hundreds of square miles’ and its perimeter may be marked by hopping “MoonFall” drones, and new moon rovers built by AstroLab and Lunar Outpost will carry astronauts around the site.

NASA’s Nujoud Merancy, chief architect of the Moon Base program recently said, “you’ll have the habitats on the tops of the hills where they get sunlight,” she added.

“Power systems — nuclear systems — need to be a kilometer or more away for the radiation protection, so all of these things, when you start putting them together, end up sprawling a little bit more like a city as you start building it out.”

NASA plans to reduce uncertainty via the use of MoonFall drones — small, hopping robots that will scout out the south polar region ahead of moon base construction. The first MoonFall batch, a set of three or four spacecraft, will launch to the moon in 2028 aboard a lander built by Firefly Aerospace.

Those drones, or others like them, could also help mark the moon base’s borders.

“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,” said Carlos García-Galán, the manager of NASA’s Moon Base program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The $30-billion, 11-year plan calls for 79 launches, 73 landers, 10 moon buggies, 12 “hopper” rocket drones, four habitat modules and numerous other pieces of infrastructure, including a 20-kilowatt nuclear reactor. Not talk yet of defensive weapons or space marines to guard the base.

As Space.com noted:

U.S. officials have repeatedly stressed the importance of getting the American one up and running first. The U.S. wants to be the one establishing norms of responsible behavior on Earth’s nearest neighbor, the argument goes.

… Ars Technica’s Eric Berger asked García-Galán and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who also participated in the event, if the MoonFall drones could help delineate a keep-out zone of sorts.

“I think it’s important for us to get there first,” Isaacman said. “I think the idea that there are areas of great interest on the lunar surface — we do want to get there and explore them…” 

“The moon base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” Isaacman added. We hope that is true and the Chinese don’t beat us to it.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

READ NEXT: Factory Disaster Triggers Grim ‘No Hope For Rescue’ Warning