Lunar surface technology for the Moon Base

NASA's Lunar Surface Technology page groups Moon Base surface technology into nine capability areas and names the projects in each. Its framing: "Similar to when we build a new neighborhood here on Earth, we'll need abundant power, water, landing pads and roads, and other foundational elements". The technologies are "tested on Earth, in simulated lunar gravity, and on the Moon" (intro). This is NASA's technology-program view. The architecture view is on Technology and knowledge challenges. No source maps these projects to specific ADD gap IDs.

Areas and projects

All entries cite the Lunar Surface Technology page under the area's heading.

Area	What NASA says it covers	Projects and investments named
Surface power	"power generation, power management and distribution, and energy storage"	Vertical Solar Array Technology (VSAT; arrays on masts up to 20 m); Regenerative Fuel Cell (RFC); LunaGrid-Lite (Astrobotic Tipping Point; tethered high-voltage power to a CubeRover); Harmonia radioisotope power supply (Zeno Power Tipping Point); Fission Surface Power / Lunar Reactor-1 (lands 2030)
Autonomous systems and robotics	"autonomous operations for long-duration missions, exploration of subsurface voids such as lava tubes, hazard detection and avoidance, and bulk transport of regolith"	CADRE (JPL; three small cooperative rovers); HI-RATE (high-rate autonomous driving); COLDArm (JPL; cryogenic arm, TRL 6, no survival heaters). On lava tubes, see also GIMLI, a PRISM science payload selected in September 2026 to look for one under the Marius Hills Pit (PRISM release; Environment).
Excavation and construction	"manipulation of large quantities of lunar regolith for mining and site preparation, structural assembly, and integrated system outfitting"	IPEx (Infrastructure Pilot Excavator); Mason (Redwire Tipping Point; grading, compacting and microwave sintering for pads, roads and foundations)
ISRU	"collecting, processing, storing, and using materials found and/or manufactured on the lunar surface"	MSOLO (mass spectrometer, operated on IM-2); CaRD (carbothermal reduction with Sierra Space); Blue Alchemist (Blue Origin Tipping Point; solar cells and wire from regolith); Molten Regolith Electrolysis (Lunar Resources); Interlune SBIR Phase III ($6.9M; prospecting for hydrogen and helium-3)
Environments	Technologies to operate "throughout the full range of lunar surface conditions"	none named
Thermal technology	"insulation materials, heat-rejection systems, and heat distribution methods" for lunar night survival	PALETTE (thermal "toolbox" for instruments)
Dust mitigation	"Surface stabilization, filtration, and dust tolerant textiles"	Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS; worked on Blue Ghost Mission 1, 2025); SCALPSS (plume-surface imaging)
Communications, PNT	"Reliable, high-bandwidth links" and "precision position, navigation, and timing"	none named on this page; Nokia 4G/LTE (Tipping Point) appears in Quick Facts
Advanced avionics	"radiation-hardened flight computers, memory, data storage, advanced co-processing, sensor interfaces, and time-synchronized networks"	High Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC; "at least 100 times the computational capacity of today's spaceflight computers")

Flight and test results the page reports

These are all from "Quick Facts".

• EDS "successfully demonstrated its ability to remove regolith" on Blue Ghost Mission 1 (2025).
• "NASA Space Tech flew five payloads to the Moon in 2025" on CLPS, "addressing dust mitigation, environments, and communications capabilities".
• "During a Lunar Gravity flight test with Blue Origin in 2025, seven surface infrastructure technologies studied regolith mechanics and lunar dust transport in a simulated lunar gravity environment."
• Nokia's 4G/LTE system "landed on the Moon in 2025, successfully powering up and transmitting operational data back to Earth".
• RFC combined with VSAT "enables supply and recharge of 10KW of power to permanently shadowed regions".
• The page gives two different IPEx figures; see open questions.

Open solicitation and challenges

• Lunar Surface Technologies solicitation. Five areas:

  1. "vertical solar arrays for surface power"
  2. "oxygen production from lunar regolith"
  3. "radioisotope power generation"
  4. "in-space manufacturing"
  5. "advanced nanomaterials production"

  It seeks "technology development, risk-reduction activities, and ground-based testing" (Moon Base Solicitations).

  It is NextSTEP-3 Appendix A, the Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator (LEIA): the September 2026 release has the same name in its title and the same five areas in the same order (the wiki's match). Solicitation 80GRC026R0008: draft 29 June 2026, comments to 17 July, final 8 September 2026. It aims at "TRL 5–6" by "risk reduction and ground‑based testing", to "advance the technology objectives of NASA's Moon Base", and surface power "is essential for initial phases of the Moon Base plan" (NextSTEP-3 A page; draft-input article; September release). NASA says the five topics address gaps "as identified in NASA's Civil Space Shortfalls", so the wiki doesn't match them to the ADD's technology gaps.

• NextSTEP-3 Appendix B, Moon Base Demonstrations (June 2026). The Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate's call for "concept demonstrations, risk reduction opportunities, and studies that address Moon Base architecture gaps", at "TRL 6 and beyond", "culminating in flight or lunar surface demonstrations". The first directed topic call is surface power; nine topic areas follow (NextSTEP-3 B page; RT-2).

• 5G and Wi-Fi on the surface (September 2026). A contract of about $38 million to Modulate Space for a lunar 5G system "with built-in Wi-Fi 6", ending in a "Flight Demonstration on the Lunar Surface" by December 2028, "to support future Moon Base surface operations" (5G contract; #0103, the wiki's pairing). The 2027 Human Lander Challenge asks university teams for lander and surface communications ideas (lander communications challenge).

• Rock and Roll with NASA wheel challenge (2026). Crowdsourced lunar rover wheels, tested at Johnson's Rock Yard. A possible next phase would test in thermal vacuum with lunar-like dust (wheel challenge article).

Ground tests and materials at NASA centers

Three 2026 articles name the Moon Base as the reason for work in NASA's own test facilities. None names a gap; each pairing below is the wiki's.

• Plume-surface interaction tests at Langley's 60-foot vacuum sphere: small engines (an ethane system of "about 100 pounds of thrust", then a hybrid motor of "around 35 pounds") fired into a bin of Black Point-1 simulant, measuring "crater formation, angle and height of the ejecta sheet, spatial distribution of solid ejecta, and the speed of the regolith particles", for Artemis IV "and develop a Moon Base" (plume tests article). Data gap DN-017 L asks for the same quantities.
• LESTR, Glenn's Lunar Environment Structural Test Rig, tests materials and hardware "at temperatures as low as 40 Kelvin" with a cryocooler, no liquid cryogens; first use, a shape memory alloy for rover tires (LESTR article; #0804).
• A bio-plastic with regolith simulant, from bacteria "fed with crew waste or carbon dioxide", for "structural brackets, wrenches, or chairs" made inside habitats, to reduce "resupply needs" for "a permanent Moon Base"; now in LESTR and bound for MISSE-23 (Moon manufacturing material; #0502).

Related pages

Technology and knowledge challenges · Phase 1 functional gaps · Environment · Missions and assets · Priorities

Sources

Lunar Surface Technology · Moon Base Solicitations · Wheel challenge article · NextSTEP-3 A page · NextSTEP-3 B page · LEIA draft-input article · LEIA release, Sep 2026 · 5G contract · Lander communications challenge · Plume tests · LESTR · Moon manufacturing material