Living and Working on the Moon - NASA

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Living and Working on the Moon

Where to explore?

Artemis III Candidate Landing Regions

As NASA prepares for the first crewed Moon landing in more than five decades, the agency has identified a set of nine potential landing regions near the lunar South Pole for its Artemis III mission.

Black and white map of the lunar South Pole with yellow writing showing where NASA's Artemis III mission may land on the Moon.

Podcast

Where to Land on the Moon

From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. On episode 321, NASA experts discuss the considerations when looking at landing locations for future human missions to the Moon’s surface.

Houston We Have a Podcast Ep. 247 Spacesuits and Rovers

What to wear?

Suited to Explore

Spacesuits

More than 50 years of NASA expertise is going into the design of modern spacesuits that will protect and support astronauts as they reach iconic heights during forays in low-Earth orbit, the Moon, and worlds beyond. The agency is partnering with Axiom Space to provide next-generation spacesuits suited to NASA’s expanded mission portfolio.

A side view mockup of the Axiom Space lunar spacesuit design. The majority of the spacesuit is white with grey patches over the knees and elbows. There is red trimming on the backpack of the spacesuit with the words Axiom Space shown on the side.

The final flight design of Axiom Space’s Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) lunar spacesuit that NASA astronauts will wear during the Artemis III mission.

Axiom Space

Featured Story

Spacesuit for NASA’s Artemis III Moon Surface Mission Debuts

When NASA sends the first astronauts to explore near the lunar South Pole, moonwalkers will wear spacesuits provided by Axiom…

What to do there?

Explore the secrets of the universe

Artemis Science

The Moon is a 4.5-billion-year-old time capsule, pristinely preserved by the cold vacuum of space. It is a witness to billions of years of solar activity and large collisions that allowed life to gain a foothold in the solar system. The Moon holds clues to the evolution of Earth, the planets, the Sun, and even cosmic rays from across the galaxy.

Elevation (left) and shaded relief (right) image of Shackleton, a 21-km-diameter (12.5-mile-diameter) permanently shadowed crater adjacent to the lunar south pole. The structure of the crater's interior was revealed by a digital elevation model constructed from over 5 million elevation measurements from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter.

How to get around?

An out of this world commute

Lunar Rovers

NASA is developing pressurized and unpressurized rover systems to help astronauts get around the Moon. Developed with partners in industry and academia, these rovers will allow Artemis astronauts to explore more of the Moon and conduct science at a variety of locations on the lunar surface.

Artist concept of Artemis astronaut on moon with Lunar rover and Earth crescent in the background.

Pressurized Rover

The pressurized rover will greatly expand our ability to explore, conduct science research, and live and work on the lunar surface by providing a home for astronauts away from the base camp for extended periods of time.

An artist's concept of a pressurized rover on the surface of the Moon.

An artist’s concept of a pressurized rover on the surface of the Moon.

Lunar Terrain Vehicle

As astronauts explore the South Pole region of the Moon during Artemis missions, they will be able to go farther and conduct more science than ever before thanks to a new Lunar Terrain Vehicle.

An artist's concept design of NASA's Lunar Terrain Vehicle.

An artist’s concept design of NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle.

NASA

Where to live?

Habitation Systems

Habitation systems will ensure the health and performance of astronauts in controlled environments in lunar orbit and on the lunar surface. The Gateway space station will house astronauts in orbit and NASA is studying surface habitation systems for later Artemis missions.

Preparing for The Lunar Surface

Analog Missions

Simulated missions, referred to as analogs, prepare us for near-term and future exploration to asteroids, Mars, and the Moon. Analogs play a significant role in problem solving for spaceflight research.

Four people in black jumpsuits standing outside of a NASA analog with a banner that says "CHAPEA"

The CHAPEA crew egress from their simulated Mars mission July 6, 2024, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. From left: Kelly Haston, Nathan Jones, Anca Selariu, and Ross Brockwell.

Innovation challenge

eXploration Habitat

The eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) academic innovation challenge seeks to provide university students with the opportunity to be on the forefront of innovation. NASA identifies necessary technologies and studies for deep space missions and invites universities from around the country to develop concepts, prototypes, and lessons learned that will help shape future space missions.

The tech we’ll need.

Moon Manufacturing

Using Resources on the Lunar Surface

With Artemis, NASA plans to put in place sustainable infrastructure that will allow us to explore and study more of the Moon than ever before. We need a better understanding of what resources are accessible on the Moon today to support that exploration and what technologies work to process those resources. Demonstrating this on the Moon will help us get us ready for missions farther into the solar system, including Mars.

Staying Connected

LunaNet

LunaNet will leverage innovative networking techniques, standards, and an extensible framework to rapidly expand network capabilities at the Moon. This framework will allow industry, academia, and international partners to build and operate LunaNet nodes alongside NASA. These nodes will offer missions four distinct services: networking, navigation, detection and information, and radio/optical science services.

Artist's rendering of astronaut on the moon.

Staying charged

Fission Surface Power

Unless disrupted by storms or grid problems, electrical power for most people is no further than an outlet away. However, the solar system does not provide easy access to electricity as we know it on Earth. Astronauts could take advantage of a reliable power supply to explore both the Moon and Mars. The system will need to be lightweight and capable of running regardless of its location, the weather, or available sunlight and other natural resources.

Artist concept of new fission power system on the lunar surface.

Featured Video

Apollo to Artemis: NASA Returns to the Moon

With the Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.