The present state of NASA’s Artemis program
The aggressive effort by NASA administrator Jared Isaacman to rationalize and speed up the agency’s Artemis program to get back to the Moon and build a base there has resulted in a plethora of new missions, almost all of which are being built by the private sector.
Today Isaacman and his Moon Base program manager, Carlos García-Galán, held a press conference where they announced four more missions.
- Astrobotic won a $297.9 million contract to build and fly two more of its smaller Peregrine lunar landers. This lander attempted a landing in 2024, but a fuel leak right after launch made that impossible.
- Firefly won a $144.2 million contract to build and fly another Blue Ghost lander, the only commercial lander to successfully achieve a lunar soft landing, in 2025.
- Intuitive Machines won a $148.3 million contract to build and fly another Nova-C lander. This lander attempted two landings, and in both cases it tipped over just after launch. The Nova-D design, under development, has a lower center of gravity, but for reasons not well explained by García-Galán NASA chose to go with the Nova-C design.
All are considered part of the first phase of the Artemis program and thus are targeting a launch by 2028.
In addition, NASA is considering using back-up equipment developed to build the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers to create quickly and relatively inexpensively a lunar rover that they have dubbed “Promise.”
In order to make some sense of this program and these many misssions, I have created below a chronological list of confirmed missions, with their present status indicated (including uncertainties), as well as some unconfirmed missions based on my own speculations. All dates are tentative at this point, even if NASA has provided us a specific target date.
Several things to note as you review this list. While there are handful of missions going elsewhere, Isaacman is attempting to focus the program toward landing at the planned lunar base near the south pole, and to do so as fast as possible in the most effective way. The cargo missions and rovers are to get there ahead of the manned missions, in order to provide the astronauts supplies and surface transportation once they arrive. Those same missions will also do some preliminary scouting, and likely carry power and excavation equpiment needed to build the base.
It is also important to note that this plan is still in its very early stages of development. Many of the rockets and spacecraft and landers needed for these missions are not yet operational. Many have not yet demonstrated the capability to do what is requested. Thus, the program will certainly not follow the plan as presently outlined by the agency. Moreover, there will be failures along the way.
The program however is designed to accelerate development, to accept those failures within the program’s larger scope. If one mission fails, others are on the table to fly quickly to overcome the loss. And since the program is relying on the entire aerospace industry, the agency will have great redundancy from many companies.
I welcome comments and suggested changes or corrections. I fully intend to publish this list repeatedly over the coming years as the Artemis program evolves. And as the private sector begins flying its own missions to the Moon, independent of NASA, I intend to include those as well.
- Late 2026:
- 4th quarter: Moon Base 1 (likely delayed): Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark-1 (dubbed Endurance) unmanned lunar lander demo flight, to be launched on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. Delayed due to the grounding of New Glenn following the May 28, 2026 static fire test explosion. Landing: South pole region.
- 4th quarter: Moon Base 2: The Griffin lander, built by Astrobotic (now acquired by Voyager), will be launched on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, and targeting the south pole region, Mons Mouton.
- 4th quarter: Moon Base 3: Intuitive Machine’s Trinity (Nova-C) lunar lander, will be launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and targeting the Reiner Gamma region near the equator.
- 4th quarter: Firefly’s Blue Ghost mission 2, to be launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, and targeting the far side of the Moon.
- 2027:
- 4th quarter: Artemis 3: Manned rendezvous and docking tests of Orion in Earth orbit with the manned lunar landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. It remains to be seen if either will be ready.
- 2028:
- 1st quarter: Blue Origin unmanned Blue Moon Mark-1 delivering the first of two lunar rovers to the south pole.
- 1st quarter?: Starship unmanned demo mission of human landing spacecraft, to south pole region.
- 1st quarter?: Blue Moon unmanned demo mission of human landing spacecraft to south pole region.
- 1st quarter?: Starship unmanned cargo mission to south pole region.
- 2nd quarter: Artemis-4: A manned lunar landing, with Orion launched by SLS and either SpaceX’s Starship launched by Superheavy or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon launched by New Glenn. Targeting south pole region.
- 3rd quarter: Blue Origin unmanned Blue Moon Mark-1 delivering the second of two lunar rovers to the south pole.
- 4th quarter: Artemis-5: A manned lunar landing, with Orion launched by SLS and SpaceX’s Starship launched by Superheavy or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon launched by New Glenn. Targeting south pole region.
- By end of year: MoonFall: Four JPL hoppers delivered to lunar orbit by Firefly’s Elytra lunar orbiter, targeting the south pole region.
- By end of year: Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, targeting the Gruithuisen Domes region on near side.
- By end of year: Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, targeting the Gruithuisen Domes region on near side.
- By end of year: Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander, landing site not yet determined.
- By end of year:: Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, landing site not yet determined.
- Date and specific mission as yet undetermined: Reconfiguration of a Mars rover equipment to be a lunar rover, dubbed Promise.
- Ispace’s unmanned lander, funded by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
- 2029:
- Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander, launched on a Falcon 9 and targeting the south pole near Mons Mouton.
- Intuitive Machines first Nova-D lander, launch provider not yet determined, targeting the south pole region.
- Ispace’s unmanned Ultra lander, funded by Japan’s Space Strategy Fund
- Possible missions:
- Cargo mission(s?) using Superheavy/Starship?
- Cargo mission(s?) using New Glenn/Blue Moon?
- Multiple unmanned robot mission(s?)?
- Manned mission(s?) using Superheavy/Starship?
- Manned mission(s?) using New Glenn/Blue Moon?
- 2030 and beyond:
- Ispace/Draper unmanned lander, funded by NASA, targeting Schrodinger basin on Moon’s far side.
- Possible missions:
- Cargo mission(s?) using Superheavy/Starship?
- Cargo mission(s?) using New Glenn/Blue Moon?
- Multiple unmanned robot mission(s?)?
- Manned mission(s?) using Superheavy/Starship?
- Manned mission(s?) using New Glenn/Blue Moon?
- 1st quarter: Demo unmanned mission of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark-2 manned lander: Likely delayed due to the grounding of New Glenn following the May 28, 2026 static fire test explosion. Landing: South pole region.
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The first item under 2027 won’t be a Blue Moon Mk-2 lander as that won’t exist yet. This will either be the first Blue Moon Mk-1 lander – assuming Blue Origin fails to fly one of these before year-end 2026 – or a second such. Blue Moon Mk-2 will only be flying in subset form even as late as the 4Q 2027 Artemis 3 mission. The crew cabin is supposed to be complete by that time, but the rest of the craft will be boilerplate/subset hardware. There will, in particular, be no main propulsion system aboard. The first unmanned test of a full-up Blue Moon Mk-2 won’t happen before 2028 and perhaps not even by then.
It is my understanding that Blue Origin is preparing a “Mk 1.5” for the Artemis-3 orbital landing, a Mk-2 not quite complete, a plan somewhat similar to what SpaceX is doing with Starship.
The demo missions to the Moon however are supposed to happen before Artemis-4. If they don’t fly by late 2027 neither will Artemis-4.
But then, I’ve been saying this for five-plus years. The landing ain’t happening in 2028.
Nice list. Busy.
Regarding the potential reconfigured Mars rover, now to be dubbed PROMISE…
This is an intriguing idea, and I think it’s worth pursuing. The use of nuclear power can give it far, far at the pole than VIPER or any other vehicle now in the works. But as Jeff Foust notes, there is an opportunity cost in pursuing it:
I don’t have a precise figure on the plutonium pellets available to NASA for MMRTGs. Dragonfly has a claim on one, and I believe there’s enough also to power an orbiter the size of Cassini; beyond that, I’m not sure. But I think the objective here – getting ground truth on local resources in setting up a crewed lunar base – is worth the opportunity cost.
But NASA would be well advised to launch this rover on the most reliable lander it has access to, when the time comes.
P.S. Something got deleted in my last. That should have read: “far, far more range and duration than VIPER.”
Robert,
This is a good list, and I hope that you do as intended and continue to update and publish it. I am especially eager to watch as the private sector missions are included, too.
These are the exciting times that, a decade ago, I had predicted to happen during this decade. The most exciting part of these times is the private sector’s contribution to space exploration and utilization. They have grander plans and schemes in mind than NASA does.