NASA announced on Tuesday that it will invest $20 billion to build a base on the moon — shelving plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit.

The agency’s new chief, Jared Isaacman, revealed a change in plans for its flagship program, Artemis, which aims to establish a long-term astronaut presence on the moon, during an “Ignition” event at NASA’s Washington headquarters

“NASA is committed to achieving the near‑impossible once again, to return to the Moon before the end of President Trump’s term, build a Moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership in space,” Isaacman said in a statement.

NASA will spend roughly $20 billion over the next seven years to construct the base, shifting its Lunar Gateway project to build infrastructure for “sustained surface operations,” the agency said.

“It should not really surprise anyone that we are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing on infrastructure that supports sustained operations on the lunar surface,” Isaacman told delegates at the day-long event.

The Lunar Gateway station was intended to be deployed in lunar orbit as a multi-purpose outpost to support astronauts embarking on lunar surface missions and conducting research.

The project had largely already been built by contractors Northrop Grumman and Lanteris Space Systems, owned by Intuitive Machines.

“Despite some of the very real hardware and schedule challenges, we can repurpose equipment and international partner commitments to support surface and ⁠other program objectives,” Isaacman said.

The switch-up will reshape billions of dollars of Artemis-related contracts, Reuters reported.

The changes to the flagship program have companies scrambling to accommodate the amplified urgency as China makes progress toward its own 2030 moon landing.

The Artemis IV and Artemis V missions to send astronauts to the moon are now also slated for launch in 2028, in an effort to beat China, ABC reported.

“This is why it is essential we leave an event like Ignition with complete alignment on the national imperative that is our collective mission,” Isaacman said in his statement. 

“The clock is running in this great‑power competition, and success or failure will be measured in months, not years.”

NASA also said it has made progress toward bringing nuclear power to space, announcing it will launch the first nuclear-powered interplanetary “Space Reactor-1 Freedom” to Mars before the end of 2028.

Nuclear electric propulsion will enable mass transportation in deep space and high-power missions beyond Jupiter, the space agency said.

In January, NASA and the US Department of Energy signed a memorandum of understanding to advance the ambitious goal of deploying nuclear reactors on the moon and in orbit by 2030.

With Post wires