NASA to pause Gateway lunar station, accelerate return to Moon

NASA on Tuesday announced a set of initiatives to accelerate a return to the Moon, including pausing the Gateway lunar orbit station in its current form, and building a sustained lunar surface presence.

The agency said it will incorporate more commercially procured and reusable hardware to enable frequent and affordable crewed missions to the lunar surface, initially targeting landings every six months.

NASA outlined a phased approach to building a lunar base, including robotic missions, technology demonstrations and infrastructure development focused on surface operations that support sustained human presence.

NASA plans to launch the Space Reactor-1 Freedom, the first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft, to Mars before the end of 2028, demonstrating advanced nuclear electric propulsion in deep space.

Additional initiatives include up to 30 robotic lunar landings starting in 2027, and major science missions such as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to study dark energy, the Dragonfly mission to explore Saturn's moon Titan and the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin Rover to Mars, said the agency.