NASA 表示将在未来 7 年投资 200 亿美元，以建立月球表面基地，并同步研发新的火星太空船。Jared Isaacman 于 2026 年 3 月 24 日在 Washington 宣布，此举是为了配合 Donald Trump 于 2025 年 12 月签署的行政命令：要求美国在 2028 年前让太空人重返月球，并在 2030 年前开始建造永久月球前哨。这项宣布也出现在 Artemis II 发射前约 1 周；该任务将是 50 多年来首次载人绕月，搭载 4 名机组人员。

新策略也实际暂停了原本绕月运行的 Gateway 太空站形式，并把部分硬体转作月表基础设施。受影响的组件包括 Northrop Grumman 建造的 HALO 舱段，以及 European Space Agency 的 I-Hab 模组。NASA 也宣布将研发名为 Space Reactor-1 Freedom 的核动力太空船，目标是在 2028 年前往火星，并部署类似 Ingenuity 的直升机。Carlos Garcia-Galan 表示，月球基地将分为 3 个主要阶段，第一阶段从本周二开始，重点是提高机器人登月频率，并测试通讯卫星网路等新基础技术。

财务与时程压力仍然很大。NASA 监察长估计，Artemis 计划截至 2025 年已耗资 930 亿美元，而 Garcia-Galan 又表示月球基地计划在未来 10 年将需要 300 亿美元；同时，美国到 2036 年的预算赤字预测将超过 3 兆美元。NASA 希望自 Artemis VI 起，与至少 2 家公司合作，将载人登月提升到每 6 个月 1 次，但它也必须在仅剩 2 年半的期限内，依赖 SpaceX 与 Blue Origin 克服重大工程障碍。NASA 因此还安排 2027 年增加 1 次测试任务，为 2028 年登月演练对接。

NASA said it will invest $20 billion over the next 7 years to build a base on the lunar surface while also developing a new Mars spacecraft. Jared Isaacman announced the plan in Washington on March 24, 2026, as part of compliance with Donald Trump’s December 2025 executive order requiring the US to return astronauts to the moon by 2028 and begin a permanent lunar outpost by 2030. The announcement came about 1 week before Artemis II, the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years, which will send 4 astronauts around the moon.

The new strategy effectively pauses Gateway in its current lunar-orbit form and redirects some hardware to surface infrastructure. Affected elements include Northrop Grumman’s HALO module and the European Space Agency’s I-Hab module. NASA also said it will develop a nuclear-powered spacecraft called Space Reactor-1 Freedom, intended to reach Mars by 2028 and deploy helicopters similar to Ingenuity. Carlos Garcia-Galan said the moon base will unfold in 3 main phases, with the first phase beginning Tuesday and focusing on more frequent robotic lunar access and tests of new infrastructure such as communications satellite networks.

Financial and schedule pressure remains severe. NASA’s inspector general estimated that Artemis had cost $93 billion through 2025, while Garcia-Galan said the moon base program would require $30 billion over the next 10 years; meanwhile, the US budget deficit is projected to exceed $3 trillion by 2036. NASA wants at least 2 companies to help raise crewed lunar missions to once every 6 months starting with Artemis VI and later missions, but it still depends on SpaceX and Blue Origin overcoming major engineering hurdles within only 2.5 years. NASA has therefore added 1 extra test mission in 2027 to rehearse docking ahead of the planned 2028 landing.