Artist’s concept depicting astronauts, habitats, rovers, power systems, and cargo operations supporting sustained human activities at the Moon Base near the lunar South Pole.
Credit: NASA
On Sunday, NASA announced the opening of its $1 million Moon Base Student Challenge during a MAX POWER event at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. As part of a Golden Age of Science, the competition invites student teams at U.S. high schools and post-secondary schools to contribute designs for the Moon Base.
“We’re looking for students ready to think creatively, work as a team, and take on real problems connected to NASA’s future on the Moon,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “You do not have to wait until graduation to contribute. Curiosity, creativity, and the willingness to tackle hard problems without obvious answers are exactly the qualities we need as we build what comes next.”
NASA is building a Moon Base where astronauts will live, work, and explore at the lunar South Pole region. A permanent human presence on the Moon paves the way for future crewed missions to Mars and requires talent from various industries and backgrounds.
“As we build and design the foundations of Moon Base, we want to leverage all the ingenuity and innovation to think of every consideration our explorers might need to live and work there,” said Carlos García-Galán, manager, Moon Base Program. “Students bring exactly the bold ideas that we’re looking for, and I’m looking forward to their fresh perspective. Ultimately, Moon Base is for them, people who will experience a world where humans are on the Moon to stay.”
The multiphase challenge supports NASA’s commitment to cultivating the technical skills of tomorrow’s aerospace workforce. For this challenge, student teams will design innovative solutions for Moon Base across six categories: power generation and storage, construction, life-support systems, surface mobility, communications networks, and astronaut safety. The challenge gives participants an opportunity to develop necessary skills for careers in the space industry while helping advance new concepts for Moon Base technologies.
Participants are required to register for the challenge through the NASA STEM Gateway. Registration is open until Jan. 25, 2027.
“Students are the next generation of explorers and innovators. Their unique perspectives are key to helping us envision a future away from Earth, and I’m excited to see the creativity and ingenuity spurred by this challenge,” said Elaine Ho, associate administrator for the Office of STEM Engagement at NASA Headquarters.
The Moon Base Student Challenge addresses authentic environmental and mission design parameters for life and operations on the lunar surface. The deliverables reflect industry skills – such as trade studies, concept proposals, and stakeholder briefings – allowing participants across technical, vocational, and various academic tracks to build career-relevant skills without requiring prior specialized engineering or technical experience.
The Office of STEM Engagement designed the challenge in collaboration with the Moon Base Program. The Institute of Competition Sciences administers the challenge through a contract with the NASA Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation within the agency’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate.
For complete competition details, eligibility requirements, and official rules, visit:
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Artist’s concept of living and working at Moon Base.
Credit: NASA
NASA announced a suite of awards and mission updates on Saturday to expand the agency’s Moon Base exploration, science, and infrastructure capabilities. The investments will advance commercial robotic deliveries, a nuclear-powered rover named PROMISE, launch and orbital transfer services, and surface infrastructure as the agency works with American industry to establish a sustained presence on the Moon’s South Pole.
The agency shared the news at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“We are building the Moon Base mission by mission,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Today’s announcements expand nearly every part of that campaign, using the playbook that carried NASA through its greatest eras: fly often, learn, apply those lessons, and get more better and more capable with every mission. When our astronauts return to the Moon, they will arrive with the first elements of the Moon Base already waiting for them on the surface.”
“In the eight months since Ignition, we’ve made incredible strides in accomplishing the near impossible: establishing a permanent outpost on the lunar surface,” said Carlos García-Galán, manager, Moon Base Program. “We’ve consolidated numerous efforts into a streamlined program, evolving our human exploration architecture into an iterative and sustained campaign for Moon Base technology development and implementation. Most importantly, we’ve taken action, awarding new contracts and forging new partnerships to accelerate development.”
Moon Base cargo landers
To strengthen the cargo lander network needed to support the Moon Base, NASA selected eight companies for the next phase of its CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. The companies are eligible to compete for future lunar surface delivery missions under the new CLPS 2 contract:
Blue Origin
Firefly Aerospace
Intuitive Machines
iSpace US
Lockheed Martin Space
Northrop Grumman Space Systems
SpaceX
Voyager Technologies
Under the CLPS 2 framework, the companies will provide lunar delivery services, including managing, building, and operating landers that transport NASA science, technology, and infrastructure payloads to the Moon.
The CLPS 2 framework is a 10-year, multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity master contract with a combined maximum value of $10 billion. NASA increased the value of the current CLPS 1.0 contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion to support initial Phase One Moon Base objectives. The original CLPS contract will remain in place through November 2028, with an additional five-year period to complete awarded lunar deliveries through November 2033.
Nuclear-powered Moon rover
NASA also announced it is moving forward with development of PROMISE (Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration). Carrying science instruments and technology demonstrations, the six-wheeled rover will land at the Moon’s South Pole to characterize the surface and subsurface, assess resource potential, and provide data to enable landing site selection, as well as future infrastructure and exploration activities. The nuclear-powered rover can operate during long lunar nights and within permanently shadowed regions thought to harbor ice, which is crucial for a sustained human presence on the Moon.
The agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, a division of Caltech, will manage the mission and build the rover from a combination of spare flight components and engineering test models for NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers. Using proven hardware, software, and Mars rover operation approaches significantly reduces cost and enables integration and testing of the complex PROMISE rover on a shorter timeline. NASA has assessed the compatibility of the hardware with the lunar environment and determined it can tolerate the harsh conditions found near the Moon’s South Pole.
The PROMISE rover will carry a drill to extract regolith, or lunar dust, to characterize ice and other resources from approximately 3 feet (1 meter) below the surface, spectrometers for analyzing the chemical composition of surface material, temperature and radiation sensors, and visible-light cameras. It will demonstrate a next-generation, radiation-tolerant computing system, NASA’s High Performance Spaceflight Computing, and advanced autonomy sensors and algorithms. NASA is targeting late 2028 to launch PROMISE and planning an 18-month mission for the rover.
NASA awarded Blue Origin a $94 million base contract, with an option period worth an additional $140 million based on performance to deliver PROMISE to the lunar South Pole. The award expands the task order awarded in May 2026 to deliver two lunar terrain vehicles to the Moon. Blue Origin will use its Mark 1 lander to deliver and deploy the rover as part of the Moon Base’s first phase.
Launch, transportation awards
Delivering Moon Base infrastructure will require a robust transportation network between Earth and the Moon. Orbital Transfer Vehicles (OTVs) act like long-distance freight trucks, carrying large loads across space. Lunar landers handle the final delivery, bringing supplies, equipment, and infrastructure safely down to the Moon’s surface.
To demonstrate those capabilities, NASA awarded six task orders as part of the agency’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract. The awards were given to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space to integrate and transport Moon Base cargo.
Three mission types will allow NASA flexibility to fly science and technology demonstrations when they are ready.
The first will include missions to reduce risks of future long-term human spaceflight for lunar exploration. The missions will verify that communication and navigation methods work properly during the journey from Earth orbit to the Moon, and OTV capability to support delivery of a CLPS lunar lander to a desired orbit. This mission type will deliver the CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft to deep space to test proximity maneuvers, navigation, and communications around the Moon.
The second category of missions will prepare the lunar South Pole for human exploration by sending a group of highly mobile drones to survey the surface before astronauts arrive, enabling safer, more informed human missions while demonstrating advanced robotic capabilities. Such missions will include the agency’s MoonFall drones, designed to scout areas beyond the reach of traditional rovers, as well as delivery of additional Moon Base assets necessary to support Phase One objectives.
To reduce risk for future missions, the third mission type will test navigation technologies and demonstrate operations in multiple cislunar orbits, between Earth and the Moon. This mission type will demonstrate commercial orbital transfer capabilities intended to increase the amount of cargo that future landers can deliver to the lunar surface.
The task orders have a value of approximately $1.3 billion combined and fall under the 10-year VADR indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, which has a maximum total value of $5 billion across all contracts. The VADR contracts are managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program Office at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center as part of the agency’s Commercial Access to Space Program. By procuring multiple launch and in-space transportation services together, NASA provides industry with a more predictable set of mission opportunities while gaining access to a broader range of commercial capabilities for future lunar exploration.
Some missions will launch aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn, Relativity Space’s Terran R, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. In-space transportation spacecraft for these missions will be provided by Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Impulse Space, and Quantum Space.
Complementing those in-space transportation demonstrations, NASA selected SpaceX for the Cislunar Communications Deployment Demonstration under an existing lunar logistics contract. Through a Specialized Delivery Mission task order, SpaceX will launch communications satellites aboard a Starship to cislunar space in 2028. The demonstration will help inform the development of future lunar communications networks that keep astronauts, mission controllers, and the Moon Base connected.
Lunar architecture, infrastructure
To extend infrastructure capabilities on the lunar surface, NASA plans to purchase commercial components for a Mini-Communications and Solar Tower (miniCAST), including solar arrays, batteries, and wireless power-transfer hardware. The agency awarded Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, for energy storage capability, Redwire for power generation, and Yank Technologies, Inc., for wireless power transfer in support of miniCAST.
The miniCAST will combine power and communications capabilities to support future Moon Base activities. Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will assemble and test the systems before they are delivered to the lunar surface.
NASA expects work to begin within months, and the initial effort will involve components rather than a major integrated system. The agency also plans a separate solicitation for fully integrated power systems, which is anticipated in early 2027.
NASA intends to release a directed call under its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP-3 B, solicitation to help close architecture-driven, high-priority data gaps for Moon Base development. The effort will help NASA gather information it needs to plan future missions, reduce risk, and support technologies and infrastructure for sustained operations on the Moon’s South Pole. The work could include small spacecraft missions, payloads on future Moon Base flights, or the purchase of data collected by commercial partners.
As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to the lunar South Pole to explore more of the Moon than ever before. In addition to providing economic benefits and advancing scientific discovery through its Moon missions, NASA will establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface and build on this foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.
NASA announced its 2025 Astronaut Candidate Class on Sept. 22, 2025, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Credit: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas
NASA is looking for the explorers who will help write the next chapter of human spaceflight.
Applications are now open for the agency’s next class of astronauts, who will join NASA as America returns to the Moon, builds the Moon Base, and lays the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars.
The next generation of astronauts will train to operate on the lunar surface, live and work beyond Earth, and take on missions that will push the boundaries of human exploration farther than ever before.
U.S. citizens interested in joining the astronaut corps have until 11:59 p.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 3, to submit their completed application materials at:
“This is an extraordinary time to join NASA’s astronaut corps,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “The people we select could walk on the Moon, live and work at the Moon Base, and help pioneer the systems and operations that will ultimately carry crews to Mars. Those missions will demand technical excellence, sound judgment, teamwork, and courage. NASA’s astronaut corps has always called on remarkable Americans willing to take on extraordinary challenges in service to the nation. If you are ready to join that tradition, come help write the next chapter of humanity’s greatest adventure.”
NASA expects to make its final selection in late 2027 to begin training as the next class of astronaut candidates.
“The window is open. The mission is waiting. And the only thing missing from the greatest adventure humanity has ever embarked upon is you,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson.
The agency last opened applications in 2024. From more than 8,000 applications, 10 astronaut candidates were selected in 2025 and are currently completing nearly two years of training.
“For those who apply, becoming a NASA astronaut is more than a career opportunity,”
said Scott Tingle, chief astronaut and chair of the Astronaut Selection Board at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “It is a chance to join a legacy of explorers who have pushed the boundaries of discovery and play a role in the missions that will shape humanity’s future in space. The next generation of astronaut candidates could help write history while inspiring future scientists, engineers, and explorers.”
Since the 1960s, NASA has selected 370 people to train as astronaut candidates for its increasingly challenging missions. The agency has 32 astronauts active in the astronaut corps, and selected applicants will join their ranks to study spacewalking, lunar geology, operations of high-performance aircraft, and more.
The basic requirements to apply include United States citizenship and a master’s degree in a STEM field, including engineering, biological science, physical science, or computer science from an accredited institution. The requirement for the master’s degree can also be met by:
Completion of at least two years of work toward a doctoral program in an appropriate technical field of engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics.
Completion of a Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Physician Assistant, Doctor of Nursing Practice, Family Nurse Practitioner, or a related medical degree.
Completion of, or current enrollment in, a nationally recognized Test Pilot School program, provided the program is completed by July 2027. If Test Pilot School is the only advanced technical degree, then completion of a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field, including engineering, biological science, physical science, or computer science is required.
Candidates must also have at least three years of related professional experience after completing their qualifying degree.
For pilots, the professional experience requirement may be met through the following flight experience:
High-performance jet aircraft: 750 hours of pilot-in-command time.
Other fixed-wing aircraft: 1,500 total flight hours, including 750 hours as pilot in command.
Rotary-wing aircraft: 1,000 total flight hours, including 300 hours as pilot in command.
For medical doctors, residency training may count toward the professional experience requirement and must be completed by July 2027.
Astronaut candidates must pass NASA’s long-duration astronaut flight physical and demonstrate strong leadership, teamwork, and communication skills.
Since its inception, NASA’s astronaut corps has represented the very best of American ingenuity, skill, and determination, carrying out missions that achieve the near impossible, expanding humanity’s understanding of Earth, the Moon, and beyond.
As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions near the lunar South Pole to explore more of the Moon than ever before. In addition to providing economic benefits and advancing scientific discovery through its Artemis missions, NASA will establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface and build on the agency’s foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.
Learn more about the application process and a career as a NASA astronaut at:
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
De Gerlache-Kocher Massif
Explanation: De Gerlache-Kocher massif looms on the visible horizon in this close-up of the edge of the Moon. The mountainous formation rises about 4 kilometers above its surroundings and is located very close to the lunar south pole. Boasting permanently shadowed crater floors that likely contain deposits of water ice and peaks that receive almost continuous sunlight for solar power generation, the south polar region is consider a prime location for the first human settlement on the Moon. In fact, De Gerlache-Kocher massif itself has been consider as a potential landing site for future crewed Artemis missions to the Moon. The remarkable telescopic image of the massif at the lunar limb was captured on October 31. Then, a favorable libration angle or lunar wobble enhanced this oblique view across the Moon’s south pole.
ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Libralato, G. Piotto, A. Sarajedini
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image released Nov. 5, 2026, provides a lesson in galactic history. The sparkling collection of stars is named Messier 30 (M30) after the French astronomer, Charles Messier, who cataloged M30 and other diffuse objects that might be mistaken for comets in the early telescopes of Messier’s time. M30 lies about 27,500 light-years away in the constellation Capricornus.
Tens of millions of years ago, the San Juan River in what is now southern Utah shared some characteristics with today’s Mississippi River. In a bygone geologic era, the San Juan flowed across a relatively flat plain that formed in an ancient marine environment. Unencumbered by rugged terrain, the river was free to take a long, meandering path on its gradual journey downslope.
But this part of the San Juan changed when geologic forces pushed the Colorado Plateau upward. Some experts think that within the later stages of this “still-enigmatic” history, starting around 20 million years ago, the plateau’s rise elevated the San Juan’s headwaters, which increased the river’s gradient and sped its flow. With that, the water’s erosive power intensified, and the river started carving its winding path deeper and deeper through 300-million-year-old rock.
Today, on its westward path to Lake Powell, the San Juan River flows through an impressive series of entrenched meanders, also known as “goosenecks.” An astronaut aboard the International Space Station photographed the stark desert topography on October 6, 2026.
In Utah’s Goosenecks State Park, the river runs through a canyon 1,000 feet (300 meters) deep. In places, it nearly loops back on itself, making horseshoe-shaped bends. One section is so curvy that the river travels 5.5 miles (8.9 kilometers) between two points that are only 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometers) apart as the crow—nay, goose—flies.
Entrenched meanders in Utah’s Goosenecks State Park are bathed in golden light on August 8, 2016.
Photo by Bob Wick (BLM)
While the goosenecks are an unusual geologic wonder to behold by day, the area’s dark skies are a spectacle by night. Goosenecks State Park’s remote, high-desert location and 360-degree views of the sky helped earn it an International Dark Sky Park designation in 2021. According to DarkSky International, features such as the Double Cluster in Perseus and the Messier 24 star cloud in the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way are visible to the unaided eye from the park. In November 2026, dark skies offer the chance to view several meteor showers, with the Northern Taurids, Southern Taurids, and Leonids reaching their peaks throughout the month.
Astronaut photograph ISS075-E-188830 was acquired on October 6, 2026, with a Nikon Z9 digital camera using a focal length of 400 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 75 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Photo by Bob Wick (BLM), via Flickr. Story by Lindsey Doermann.
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References & Resources
DarkSky International (2021, March 25) Goosenecks State Park. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Seasonal rains had started to fill Akrotiri Salt Lake when the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 captured this image of Cyprus’s Akrotiri Peninsula on October 10, 2026.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison
The island of Cyprus began to form some 90 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous, with molten rock pouring from the seafloor, solidifying, and building new oceanic crust. Over time, portions of this oceanic rock were wrenched upward by tectonic forces, eventually emerging as a rugged island made of ophiolite, a type of rock with a mottled green appearance said to look like the skin of a snake. Remnants of that ancient island are still visible in the dark rocks of the Troodos Mountains.
During the Miocene, considerably younger layers of chalk, limestone, marl, and other marine sedimentary rocks accumulated around the island, providing material that developed into a second, smaller island to the south during a later period of geologic uplift. Over time, sediment poured from rivers into the channel separating the two islands and combined with marine sediments to create deltas and eventually two land bridges, or tombolos. The joined landmass comprises the Akrotiri Peninsula, now the southernmost tip of Cyprus.
The sandy edges of the peninsula were visible when Landsat 8 captured these images on October 10, 2026. Akrotiri Salt Lake, a coastal lagoon that was once an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, lies between the two tombolos. The more westerly feature, the Kouris River tombolo, formed first, developing about 50,000 years ago from river-deposited gravels and sands. The eastern tombolo extended southward from Cyprus, cutting off the Mediterranean Sea only within the past 2,000 years, according to geologists.
The lake’s water levels now vary markedly with the seasons, typically filling in the late autumn and winter and drying out in the summer. The influx of winter water has historically attracted sizable overwintering flamingo populations, averaging about 4,000 birds. However, the wintering flamingo population has declined in recent years, plummeting to 30 birds in 2025, according to news reports. Flamingos have long flocked to the lake to feed on fairy shrimp, which are rich in colorful substances called carotenoids that give the birds their famously pink hue.
Snakes are another of the island’s more notorious animal inhabitants. In antiquity, Cyprus was known as Ophiousa, or “land of snakes,” likely due to its robust population ofblunt-nosed vipers. According to legend, the island’s snake communities grew to be so problematic during a drought in the fourth century that the Roman Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, called for shiploads of cats to be sent from Egypt to control the venomous reptiles.
The first feline imports were released in a particularly snake-infested area on the southeastern part of the Akrotiri Peninsula, an area that came to be known as Cape Gata (Cape Cat in Greek). The cape today is still home to the Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas of the Cats, a place where legend says that monks encouraged newly arrived Egyptian cats to hunt snakes. Today, Cyprus has as many cats as people, with more than one million of the feline predators stalking the island. The handful of nuns who now live in the monastery still care for hundreds of cats, according to the St. Nicholas Center.
A broader image of Cyprus captured by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 shows the western half of the island on October 10, 2026.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison
NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.Story by Adam Voiland.
