Nasa announces $20 billion plan to build Moon base

Nasa has announced plans to build a base on the Moon over the next seven years.

It would be built near the lunar south pole, with $20 billion being given to the project.

The base would be for future astronauts to be able to stay in while exploring the lunar surface and carrying out research.

Nasa is hoping in the future to launch two Moon landing missions per year, and develop the technology needed for eventual flights to Mars.

The base would be built in three stages, starting with facilities to support once-a-year missions, then more regular visits to the lunar surface, and in the later stages building something that astronauts could stay in for long periods of time.

It is designed to include nuclear and solar power systems, and crewed and uncrewed rovers.

There will also be machines to prepare sites for construction, a mobile phone-like communications network, a lunar GPS system and constellations of lunar observation and communications relay satellites.

"The moon base will not appear overnight," Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman said.

"We will invest approximately $20 billion over the next seven years and build it through dozens of missions, working together with commercial and international partners towards a deliberate and achievable plan," he added

This announcement replaces plans made previously for a space station in lunar orbit which was to be called the Gateway.

Orion crew ships from Earth would have used the Gateway as a place to meet up with already docked lunar landers to descend to the surface.

Now the plans have changed, Orion astronauts will transfer directly to their landers without stopping at an orbital way station.

Modules and systems that had already been developed for the Gateway will now be repurposed to be part of the planned base on the Moon.

It's been more than 50 years since the Apollo 17 astronauts became the last humans to visit the Moon.

The Artemis Mission is aiming to allow the next generation of astronauts to make a return trip, with Artemis II - which will send four astronauts on a trip around the Moon - planned to launch in April.

There had been plans for astronauts to land on the Moon as part of the next stage - Artemis III (3) but an extra mission has now been added which means the next lunar landings will most likely be during Artemis IV (4) and V (5).

Nasa has said that adding this additional flight to the programme would not slow down its return to the Moon and it is still aiming for this to happen by 2028.