Musk is going to need a heavier Heavy Lifter. NASA isn't up to it.
Posted on 03/24/2026 2:35:45 PM PDT by DFG
NASA is cancelling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use its components to construct a $20 billion base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years, its new chief Jared Isaacman said on Tuesday.
Isaacman, who was sworn in at the agency in December, made the announcement at the opening of a day-long event at NASA’s Washington headquarters at which he outlined a raft of changes he is making to the agency’s flagship moon program Artemis.
“It should not really surprise anyone that we are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing on infrastructure that supports sustained operations on the lunar surface,” Isaacman told delegates at the event.
The Lunar Gateway station, largely already built with contractors Northrop Grumman and Lanteris Space Systems, owned by Intuitive Machines, was meant to be a space station parked in a lunar orbit. Repurposing the craft for a lunar surface base is not simple.
“Despite some of the very real hardware and schedule challenges, we can repurpose equipment and international partner commitments to support surface and other program objectives,” Isaacman said.
Lunar Gateway was designed to serve as both a research platform and a transfer station that astronauts would use to board the moon landers before descending to the lunar surface.
The changes imposed by Isaacman on the flagship US moon program in recent weeks are reshaping billions of dollars worth of contracts under the Artemis effort.
That is sending companies scrambling to accommodate the extra urgency as China makes progress toward its own 2030 moon landing.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Which do you prefer a $20 billion US colony, or a militarize Chinese colony with a mass driver?
Breaking! NASA just announce its $20 billion colony is way too expensive, so they will build it out of cardboard, costing only $5, that on arrival via FedEx will automatically unfold.
Wow, what a bargain! The California High-Speed Rail is now projected to cost about $130 billion. That’s enough for a few bases on the Moon and Mars!
With NASA in charge:
Completion, never.
Cost, at least 10 times the amount budgeted.
Very 1st change order!
is it April 1st already ?
The sensible way to do this would be to use nuclear powered tunneling robots. Pretty much existing tech. They can work 24/7 and they do not need to be fast, just methodical.
This avoids several bad problems: extremes of heat and cold, radiation, vacuum, the very abrasive Lunar dust, and testing: heat and atmospheric retention, and even mining for water ice.
An add-on is that their transport ships can be cannibalized to make reinforcing structures, air locks, and a large antenna to communicate with Earth.
Lampoon’s Lunar Vacation.
The only way to ever complete it will be turning the whole thing to Space X.
$20B? It’ll be a single quonset hut.
Put Newsom in charge and it will consume $3 trillion and never get built.
Musk is going to need a heavier Heavy Lifter. NASA isn't up to it.
I’d rather the borders secure, less inflation, the deserts to blossom,more desalination plants and replenishing the water tables with less drugs, more government accountability, more manufacturing and exporting oil and food.
Only 37 years till Zepfrum Cochran breaks the Wary Barrier.
Remember when NASA left our astronauts in space for almost a year?
$20 billion is less than Democrat politicians and NGOs steal in a year...so it isn’t that much money.
Just the drywall
He’d build it in half the time and make a profit on the job.
It depends on how complex the studio lighting is!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.