Original concepts for a moon base ranged from believable to outlandish. Following the success of Artemis II, which launched four astronauts around the moon over the course of 10 days, NASA is looking ahead as it attempts to take another giant leap. 

The goal? A permanent base on the moon. But what might that look like? Leaders within NASA and industry partners shared some details last week at the 41st Space Symposium, the annual international gathering of space industry companies, space agencies and space enthusiasts at The Broadmoor.

Some of the original concepts and pitches NASA got appeared to take inspiration from airports, said Carlos Garcia-Galan, NASA’s moon base program executive. 

“What we envision is hundreds of square miles with assets that are serving different purposes,” he said. “It’s going to be an area where we have drones flying around cargo and human landers and habitation.”

The moon base won’t be built overnight, a point emphasized by both Garcia-Galan and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. During a presentation Thursday, Garcia-Galan outlined the agency’s three-phase approach to the moon base. Phase one, which is already underway having been announced during NASA’s ignition event roughly a month ago, will largely be about experimentation and assuring reliable access to the lunar surface.

Isaacman is pushing NASA to land rovers, landers and experiments on the lunar surface at a rate of about one per month. Companies like Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, which successfully landed its Blue Ghost lunar lander last year, are ready to meet that goal. Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 2, with a plethora of experiments and a NASA-built telescope onboard, is set to launch later this year. 

The second phase is all about landing and setting up permanent pieces of infrastructure while phase three will see permanent human habitation, Garcia-Galan said. 

“We’re going to have over 10 missions next year and 12 the year after,” Garcia-Galan said, adding it will be all about sending “many assets.” This will include rovers to explore the terrain “so we can lay the groundwork to do technology and infrastructure later.”

Colorado company Lunar Outpost, headquartered in Golden, has been laser-focused on a sustained human presence on the moon since it was founded in 2017, said Mike Moreno, the company’s vice president of strategy. Lunar Outpost has accelerated some things, but it largely remains focused on current missions, Moreno said. 

Lunar Outpost sees itself as a “lunar mobility” company, meaning it’s in the business of getting people, equipment and objects from one spot on the moon to another. The company has already tried to demonstrate that mobility, said Moreno.  

The company had its “MAPP”  — Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform — land on the surface of the moon aboard the Intuitive Machines IM-2 lander. The lander came to rest on its side, wedging the garage door of MAPP closed. Every indication prior to the landing showed that MAPP was ready to go, Moreno said. 

“We have four more contracted missions with MAPP platforms in the next few years and that is the start of our lunar mobility,” he said.

And the company tests its large lunar vehicle right here in state. Outside of the southern Colorado towns of Rye and Colorado City are the proving grounds Lunar Outpost is using as it tests the rover it hopes will win a three-way competition.

Lunar Outpost employs at least 85 people in Colorado and about 150 nationwide, according to past coverage by the Gazette’s news partner KOAA. The company is currently hiring, with more than 20 positions available in Colorado, listed online at https://www.lunaroutpost.com/careers.

At last year’s Space Symposium, the company showcased a full-size mockup of its “Lunar Dawn.” This year, Astrolab brought in a full-size rover which it calls FLEX, as well as its autonomous rover called FLIP. But Moreno wasn’t worried by Astrolab’s apparent flex.   

“We really love the focus that NASA and the rest of the industry is placing on the moon,” he said.