Nasa is "giving a lot of thought" to meteor strikes on the lunar surface as part of ambitious plans to establish a base on the Moon. Space agency chief Jared Isaacman has warned there are potentially dangerous environmental factors that must be considered when setting up an outpost.
His remarks came after it emerged last month that a comet or asteroid the size of a building up to six storeys high had slammed into the Moon's surface back in 2024. The impact carved out a crater roughly 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep.
Once-in-a-century event
Scientists have described the sheer scale of the collision as a "once-in-a-lifetime" event, one that occurs approximately every century.
During the Artemis II space mission earlier this year, as the crew journeyed around the far side of the Moon, astronauts witnessed several flashes as small space rocks, known as meteoroids, hurtled directly into the lunar surface at tremendous speeds, with no atmosphere to burn them up.
Plans for a permanent base
Nasa intends to return humans to Earth's natural satellite in 2028, with ambitions to have a fully operational Moon base by 2032, complete with a permanent human presence and regular crew rotations. The groundbreaking project seeks to advance the technologies required for future deep space exploration, including missions to Mars.
Nasa is due to launch the Artemis III mission next year. Four crew members will trial low Earth orbit docking procedures between the Orion spacecraft and commercial lunar landers, developed by Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Isaacman on meteor risks
Mr Isaacman was quizzed about the implications of the recently identified asteroid strike on ambitious plans for a Moon base during a briefing at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Friday. He said: "Fortunately, that's a once-in-a-century type of an event, so we're fortunate in that regard. But there are much smaller meteor strikes that will happen on the lunar surface with greater frequency."
"We got some additional data from that from the great crew of Artemis II and some of the observations they relayed back during their mission. So, we are giving a lot of thought to that for the Moon base."
Mr Isaacman highlighted that a fleet of lunar rovers would be deployed to scout and map the Moon's surface, helping to shape the development of the outpost. He said: "We're going to learn and we're going to gradually scale up capabilities because I guarantee you we're going to need surface improvement."
"It's why we're not locking in the design for habitation modules today. We're doing our science of survival, lots of uncrewed robotic landers, lots of demos, see what we like to build up to it."
"Because yes, there are going to be environmental factors we're going to need to consider that could be hazardous and be able to address them. And we will do it in a logical, iterative way to get to the right outcome."
Blue Origin and the road ahead
Mr Isaacman also revealed he was full of admiration for the strides being made by the Blue Origin team, following the rocket's spectacular explosion on the launchpad. The spaceflight firm has a pivotal role to play from the very start of the Moon base ambitions.
The project hinges largely on the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket, which blew up during an engine-firing test at the end of May. Mr Isaacman said: "I think they've been very open about targeting the end of the year... they are moving with purpose. So, whether they hit December or they wind up in January, they're breaking everyone's records."
When pushed on whether he would "put money" on getting astronauts onto the Moon by 2028, Mr Isaacman said: "We are putting taxpayer money on it, but we are doing so in the most efficient, responsible way we possibly can in that regard."
He conceded that "a monumental effort is ahead" before adding: "We are very eyes wide open to what needs to be done, and what needs to be done is to get ready to launch Artemis III. And, in parallel, we need to launch a lot of Moon-based missions." He further stated: "This is an achievable path we are on right now."
"We have the mandate, we have the resources, the support from our stakeholders to be able to execute, and that's what we intend to do."
