Project Artemis: NASA shares plan for village on Moon after crewed mission announcement

NASA has revealed plans to run a "village" on the Moon to create the conditions for "sustained human life",

Administrator Sean Duffy announced that a settlement could be formed within a decade while attending the International Aeronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney, Australia on Monday. The session was attended by heads of space agencies from USA, China, Japan, India, Europe, and Canada.

Russia's space boss was absent from the congress, and Mr Duffy said that the US "comes in peace" to space, adding: "We have not been in the business of taking people's land." When asked what success looks like for NASA in a decade, he revealed: "We are going to have sustained human life on the moon. Not just an outpost, but a village."

READ MORE: NASA announces first crewed mission to the Moon in 50 years

Mr Duffy, who is currently serving as Secretary of Transportation in Donald Trump's administration, revealed the village could be nuclear-powered. In a direction published last month, he said NASA will fast-track plans to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030 as part of US ambitions to build a permanent base for humans to live on the lunar surface.

As reported by The Register, Mr Duffy predicted that a decade from now, NASA will also have "made leaps and bounds on our mission to get to Mars" and "be on the cusp of putting human boots on Mars." Countries including the US, China, Russia, India and Japan are all competing to explore the surface of the Moon, with some planning permanent human settlements.

Mr Duffy, who was appointed temporary head of Nasa, reportedly wrote to the major space agency: "To properly advance this critical technology to be able to support a future lunar economy, high power energy generation on Mars, and to strengthen our national security in space, it is imperative the agency move quickly."

It comes just days after NASA announced plans to send astronauts on a trip around the Moon - with the rocket built to get them there "pretty much stacked and ready to go." It would be the first time in 50 years that any country has flown a crewed lunar mission and could serve as a stepping stone for humanity's first ever journey to Mars.

Announcing their plans, the USspace agency said on X: "Experts are discussing the latest on the Artemis II mission. Artemis II, which will send four astronauts around the Moon next year, will prepare us for crewed missions to the lunar surface and future Martian missions."

NASAhad previously aimed for a launch by the end of April, but now hopes to bring the mission forward to February - with hopes for them to land there as early as 2027. The ten-day journey will see astronauts test the spaceship and systems they'll need for future Moon landings. It will be the second launch of the Artemis programme, which aims to not only land astronauts, but eventually establish a long-term human presence on the Moon.

Lakiesha Hawkins, one of NASA's acting deputy associate administrators, described the mission as being key in the human exploration of space. "We together have a front row seat to history," she said during a news conference on Tuesday afternoon. "The launch window could open as early as the fifth of February, but we want to emphasize that safety is our top priority."

Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said the rocket built to carry astronauts, the Space Launch System (SLS), is "pretty much stacked and ready to go." The final steps are completing the crew capsule, Orion, connecting it to the SLS, and finishing ground tests.