US Pentagon looking to create 10-year plan for lunar economy

In a far cry from the days of space between the United States and the Soviet Union, the modern space race has countries vying to establish a sustained long-term presence on the Moon. Lunar missions of the future will stop being touch-and-go. Instead, both countries and private companies will be looking to set up long-term infrastructure on the Moon’s surface and its orbit.

DARPA’s Luna-10 is a seven-month-long study that is seeking for ideas and technology for concepts that could build a lunar economy in the next ten years.

“A large paradigm shift is coming in the next 10 years for the lunar economy. To get to a turning point faster, LunA-10 uniquely aims to identify solutions that can enable multi-mission lunar systems – imagine a wireless power station that can also provide comms and navigation in its beam,” said Michael Nayak, program manager in DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office,” in a press statement.

DARPA has been the driving force between many of the technologies that helped carry humanity to the Moon in the first place, including the rocket technology used on the Saturn V, which was used for the Apollo mission. LunA-10 aims to build on this legacy by identifying and accelerating the technologies that can create the infrastructure that can be used by both governments and private players, according to Nayak.