What Lies Beyond Artemis 2? These Other Missions Are Setting Their Sights on the Moon This Year—and on a Future With Humans in Space

After rounding the moon, viewing a solar eclipse and traveling farther than any human had before, the four astronauts of Artemis 2—the first manned lunar mission in more than five decades—will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere tomorrow. Beyond those milestones, the mission represents a step toward establishing a long-term human presence in space and sets up the moon as a lens for considering the future of exploration.

“The moon is definitely where it’s at,” says Robert Braun, an aerospace engineer and the head of the Space Exploration Sector at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. Much will happen there in the next five years, he adds, to prepare it as a base for larger ventures to come. “If you’re interested in the moon, this is a great time to be alive.”

Although the Artemis 2 astronauts did not land on the lunar surface, their mission has taken them on a figure-eight flight around Earth’s natural satellite, marking the Orion spacecraft’s first trip with human occupants. With an eye on the future, Braun says, Artemis 2 “tests the systems that are needed to send humans into deep space.”

Underscoring that long-term aim, NASA recently announced that it would accelerate the launches for its Artemis program. The new timeline establishes Artemis 3 as a test mission to orbit Earth next year and Artemis 4—one of potentially two manned missions to the moon in 2028—as the first to land humans on the moon since 1972. Braun says NASA has “made it clear that establishing appropriate infrastructure and technology on the lunar surface is an urgent national priority.”

But NASA isn’t alone in its lunar curiosity. As interest in the moon grows in the private sector and nations around the world, some experts say the moon could soon become a gateway hub for missions that extend even deeper into the solar system. A handful of private companies plan to launch lunar landers later this year, aiming to test moon access, conduct scientific research and prepare for a future with humans in space.

A new race to the lunar landscape

For its part, NASA is targeting the moon through a program called Commercial Lunar Payload Services (or CLPS, pronounced “clips”). It’s designed to scale up private sector capability for delivering the agency’s missions and equipment, or “payloads,” to the lunar surface and orbit. Essentially, the contracted companies are like rideshare drivers that will shuttle NASA’s science and exploration materials.

CLPS plans to deliver more than 60 NASA instruments to the moon by 2028, representing a much faster rate than possible in the past. Under NASA alone, a mission might take years to reach liftoff, but CLPS ramps up the pace “fundamentally,” says John Thornton, CEO of the space robotics company Astrobotic. Besides growing the industry, the approach “supercharges science,” he adds. “The cadence of science development and science return is changing.”

As the rate of launches accelerates, lunar missions can carry more equipment to the moon for experiments by NASA, other space agencies and private companies, helping them learn, for example, how to mine resources from the surface and how moon dust may affect equipment and human health. Scientists are looking increasingly at the lunar south pole—which holds frozen water—as a target for study, and several landers this year will seek to learn more about the area.

Upcoming moonshots of 2026

No earlier than July, a lunar lander called Griffin will attempt to touch down on the moon. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One initiative plans to land a suite of cargo at the lunar south pole’s Nobile Crater. Onboard will be a couple of lunar rovers and scientific equipment from both NASA and the European Space Agency.

The company’s new moonshot comes on the heels of its 2024 launch of Peregrine One, a spacecraft that never made it to the moon. Intended to land on the lunar surface, Peregrine fizzled, leaking rocket propellant as a consequence of a single valve’s failure to seal. To prevent the spacecraft from becoming space debris, Astrobotic allowed it to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere above the South Pacific. The company says that it has learned from that experience. For Griffin, engineers have doubled the valves, building in backups in case one fails.

Firefly Aerospace, the company that stuck the first successful upright commercial moon landing with its robotic lander Blue Ghost 1, in 2025, is hoping to repeat its success in 2026. Blue Ghost Mission 2 aims to land on the far side of the moon, which would be a first for the United States. The trouble is, from the moon’s other end, a spacecraft “never has [a] line of sight back to Earth,” says Will Coogan, chief engineer for the Blue Ghost mission, in an email. “We have to fly two vehicles—one which lands and one which remains in orbit—so that the orbital vehicle can bounce our data from the far side of the moon back to Earth.” The novelty is a challenge, he adds, but “it also means that there is more to discover.”

Also launching this year is Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar lander, which will target the moon’s south pole. Larger than some of the other landers—and vaguely resembling a giant coffee maker—the Mark 1 will test critical technologies for human activities on the moon. It is expected to be the first lander to be powered by cryogenic fluid, or ultracold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Meanwhile, Houston-based Intuitive Machines plans to send its IM-3 lunar lander to touch down on Reiner Gamma. This geological feature is one of the “lunar swirls” that look as though they were painted on the moon’s surface. Lunar swirls are highly reflective areas linked to magnetic anomalies, and this mission, also pegged for this year, aims to learn more about them.

China, too, is planning a lunar-bound mission with Chang’e 7, named for the Chinese moon goddess. Planned to launch in the second half of 2026, it aims to accomplish the first direct probe for water ice at the lunar south pole. China’s Chang’e program began with the launch of the Chang’e 1 lunar orbiter in 2007, and subsequent missions returned moon samples to Earth in 2020 and 2024. The nation also intends to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.

As more countries toss their hats in the ring and launch lunar missions, some are striving to make space more collaborative. Braun points to the Artemis Accords, a nonbinding agreement announced in 2020, which governs “how nations will partner together peacefully to go to the moon.” The Artemis Accords began with the U.S. and seven other founding nations in response to intensifying interest in reaching Earth’s natural satellite. In January 2026, Oman became the 61st country to commit to “responsible space exploration for the benefit of all humanity,” according to NASA.

To the moon—and beyond

For Braun, the robotic moon missions represent more than test runs or courier deliveries. They will help create the infrastructure—vehicles, livable habitat, power plants, communications equipment—needed to establish a hub that will support future exploration. “If we can set up the infrastructure in advance robotically, then when the humans get there, they can access those capabilities, and they don’t have to bring everything with them.” That’s a key advancement over the Apollo days, he adds, when “every mission took everything it needed,” severely limiting how many people could go to the moon and how often.

“The moon gives us the experience and technology advancements to prepare for exploration to Mars and beyond,” Coogan says. This means that, as space agencies and companies work to expand their presence in the solar system, they can test key systems for human habitation on the moon, while still being just a few days’ distance from Earth. “The moon is also a potential source of resources,” he adds.

One of the possible outcomes that excite Coogan and Thornton—and many across the field—is mining ice found near the lunar south pole to create rocket fuel. “It’s frozen water underneath the permanently shadowed craters at the poles of the moon,” Thornton explains. “If you’ve got water, you can split it” into its component elements of hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen could help humans breathe, or both elements could be condensed at incredibly low temperatures into rocket fuel—liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Hydrogen fuel “powered the [space] shuttle,” Thornton says. “So, if we can get to that rocket fuel underneath the surface of the moon, it’s a game changer. Fundamental game changer.”

Still, that game changer requires some tall orders. During those impossibly frigid polar nights, temperatures dip to minus 334 degrees Fahrenheit. Any equipment would need to work at such temperatures to capture the water, condense it and split it. “It’s a very difficult, challenging problem,” Thornton concedes, but solving it could unlock intriguing possibilities.

Robots sent to the moon might one day create a lunar power grid that will enable service stations, where space travelers can refuel and rest up. Refreshed, the astronauts could then return to Earth—or begin a new leg of their journey, on to Mars, for instance. Companies, including Astrobotic and Lockheed Martin, are probing the potential for generating nuclear energy and harnessing solar power on the moon. In January, NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy announced their commitment to supporting the development of a nuclear fission power system on the moon, and NASA administrator Jared Isaacman has also expressed a new resolve to build a lunar outpost.

“There’s really a convergence on the moon,” says Braun. And at the heart of this convergence, he adds, is a fundamental question: “Are humans capable of becoming a multiworld species?” By building our knowledge step by step and using resources that are already on the moon, he says, “can we learn to live, work and play there?”