NASA and its commercial partners are gearing up for extensive exploration of the Moon through the Artemis program.

As part of this, NASA plans to give more tasks to two companies, Blue Origin and SpaceX, under their current contracts. These tasks involve creating landers that can take big pieces of equipment and infrastructure to the Moon.

NASA wants these companies to develop cargo versions of their existing landers, which are already being made for crewed missions like Artemis III, IV, and V. Cargo versions are landers without space for astronauts, used to transport heavy equipment.

NASA has specific plans for these cargo missions: SpaceX’s Starship will deliver a pressurized rover from Japan’s space agency JAXA to the Moon by 2032 or later. Blue Origin will send a lunar surface habitat, which is a living space for astronauts, by 2033 or later.

A NASA press release states that this is part of a broader plan to have regular Moon visits through collaboration with various partners. Having two different lander designs offers flexibility and ensures continuous Moon exploration.

“These large cargo lander demonstration missions aim to optimize our NASA and industry technical expertise, resources, and funding as we prepare for the future of deep space exploration,” says Lisa Watson-Morgan, program manager, Human Landing System, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

NASA’s approach includes using the SLS rocket, ground systems, the Orion spacecraft, and future technologies like spacesuits and the Gateway space station.

However, there have been calls for NASA to abandon some of these projects in favor of faster and cheaper alternatives based on SpaceX technology and commercial systems. Now that Elon Musk will be a trusted advisor to U.S. President elect Donald Trump, the SpaceX option seems likely to gain more weight.

Be what it may, this all contributes to not just exploring the Moon but also preparing for missions to Mars. The plan is to learn how to sustain life on other worlds, expanding our reach into space and eventually becoming a multi-planetary species.

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