NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has unveiled ambitious plans for a $20 billion lunar base that will establish an “enduring presence” on the Moon. Speaking at NASA’s Ignition event, Isaacman also outlined the goal of launching a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars by 2028.

The new lunar base is set to be built in three phases: first, establishing communications and navigation systems; second, enabling recurring astronaut operations on the surface; third, creating a long-duration human presence that will deliver heavier infrastructure for a permanent Moon settlement. This shift comes with NASA pausing its Gateway project – a space station orbiting the Moon.

Building this base won’t be easy: extreme temperatures, dangerous radiation, low gravity, and micrometeorites pose significant challenges. Isaacman sees competition from China as urgent, noting that “the clock is running in this great-power competition.”

To achieve these goals, NASA plans to invest approximately $20 billion over the next seven years through dozens of missions. The success or failure will be measured in months rather than years.

The launch of Space Reactor-1 Freedom – the first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft – to Mars by 2028 is another part of this ambitious space strategy, deploying helicopters similar to Ingenuity for exploration on the red planet’s surface.