NASA Wants Humans Living On The Moon By 2028 And Here's The $20 Billion Plan To Make It Happen
by Toby Adeyemi, Weather.com, March 30, 2026
NASA has unveiled new plans to establish a permanent lunar base starting with the Artemis III mission, with costs expected to reach upwards of $20 billion. The ambitious three-phase plan will transform the Moon into a testing ground for human survival in extreme conditions.
The moon might be a place full of humans sooner than we think. NASA has much bigger plans than 'just' another moonwalk. They are laying the foundation for humans to make the moon home, and it's going to cost upwards of $20 billion dollars. This proposed lunar base won't only stamp Americans as the leaders of the new frontier, but completely redefine space exploration and our understanding of space.
The real purpose for this project is to turn the moon into a permanent testing ground for human survival in harsh conditions. Just to give you an idea of what it's like on the moon: we're talking 250 degrees in direct sunlight and minus 300 degrees in the shade. That's a 550-degree swing with nothing to soften the blow. Plus, no atmosphere means no protection from radiation, no weather to distribute heat and temperature shifts so violent they'd cook you, then freeze you solid. Some craters at the poles stay so cold (minus 400 degrees) they're literally the coldest spots in the solar system.
Neil Armstrong steps into history July 20, 1969 by leaving the first human footprint on the surface of the moon.
And it gets worse: The surface is covered in razor-sharp dust that sticks to everything because it's electrically charged from constant meteor impacts. There's no wind, no sound, no rain — just silence, radiation, and a two-week-long day followed by two weeks of pitch-black night. One-sixth gravity means you'd weigh less, but you'd still be dealing with conditions so extreme that survival requires a full spacesuit just to exist.
NASA isn't wasting any time either. They plan to begin next year with the landing of Artemis III, which will be followed by more regular lunar landings not too far after.
NASA plans to make this happen in three distinct phases:
Phase One: Build, Test, Learn
Robots go first. NASA will send testing rovers, power systems and communication tools to see what actually works. You don't send people until you know the tech can handle it first.
Phase Two: Establish Infrastructure
Now they start building for real. Semi-permanent habitats go up, astronauts stay longer, and other countries join in. The moon becomes a place you can work from, not just visit.
Phase Three: Long-Term Presence
Final move: Full setup. Heavy infrastructure gets delivered and humans stay continuously. The goal? Make the moon a base, not just a trip.
Regardless of the risks, if this is a success, it could bring a plenty of benefits. With a lunar base on the moon, NASA can make discoveries much quicker with a shorter turnaround time, improve space travel, and even solve a couple of earth's extreme environment issues.
Despite all the positives, there are risks to such a great endeavor: the cost, tech issues, the ability for human life to adapt to this extreme environment, and unforeseen issues that will arise undoubtedly while up there. Don't forget about the global space race either. That will almost certainly pick up since no country will want to be last.
Why Mining the Moon is of National Security Interest:
Mining for critical resources on the moon has emerged as a new frontier in the growing competition between the U.S. and China. Helium-3 (3He), found in much greater abundance on the moon than on Earth, is the primary driver for lunar resource extraction given its necessities for two high-priority emerging technologies: 1) nuclear fusion and 2) quantum computing. 3He’s elemental properties enable the optimization and operationalization of fusion and quantum, both of which offer capabilities of the highest caliber for their respective applications in energy efficiency and machine problem solving (cryptography, data modeling, theoretical research, drug discovery, etc.). Failure to be first in securing moon-based 3He deposits threatens national security and undermines U.S. authority in future outer space governance and exploration.
A Reporter Asked Artemis II Astronaut About Race. His Response Was Perfect:
Great Answer! We are ALL so DONE with the Identity Politics and Division! Only the real racists need to push the race card . . . https://t.co/FBpoTrLolf
— Tom Zawistowski (@TomZWTPC) April 3, 2026
Could We Turn the Moon Into a Giant Power Plant?
Energy innovation today is largely concentrated on planet Earth, but power generation could soon be possible in space. The Moon, in particular, contains a massive amount of potential energy that we could soon harness to fuel rockets, future settlements, and transportation back to Earth. This could pave the way for permanent settlement of the Moon’s surface and future expeditions throughout the solar system.
Innovations in solar energy and energy conversion mean we may soon generate energy and oxygen right from the Moon’s surface. Regolith — the Moon’s soil — contains a vast amount of volatiles that can be used to generate energy, and large amounts of solar radiation bombard the Moon daily. Three crucial minerals for solar panels — silicon, aluminum, and glass — are all present in the regolith, and the Moon’s surface receives an estimated 13,000 terrawatts (TW) of energy daily from the sun — enough electricity to power the U.S. and China for a year. Harnessing a fraction of that solar power could provide energy for settlements and machinery with plenty to spare. Regolith is also made of oxygen that is tightly bound within these minerals, providing an opportunity for oxygen generation as well.
The Moon also has a massive store of helium-3. Helium-3 is an isotope that has the potential to be a source for nuclear energy with no radioactive waste or radiation. It is present on Earth but is much more plentiful on the Moon due to billions of years of solar winds depositing isotopes on the Moon’s surface. China has successfully extracted helium-3 and returned it to Earth for testing for nuclear fusion, and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were able to increase nuclear energy generation tenfold using helium-3 as an additive. Transplanting this technology to the Moon could happen by mid-century.
Energy from the Moon could also be transported back to Earth. Solar panels on the Moon could transmit electricity to satellites orbiting the Earth using microwave beams, the same technology that undergirds radar, and the solar panels themselves could be cheaper to build because they would not need to withstand weather events.
