Nasa unveils next steps to build permanent Moon base

New Delhi ( Vivek Ojha ) : Nasa has released details of robotic landers, hopping drones and vehicles it aims to send to the Moon as part of US plans to build a lunar base. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's space company Blue Origin is one of several companies picked to build the machines.

The US wants to land Americans back on the Moon before President Donald Trump leaves office in 2029. But Nasa is competing with China to return humans to the lunar surface, meaning the space agency is under pressure to appear to be winning the new space race.

China is forging ahead with its own plans to land humans on the Moon by 2030. On Monday it launched its Shenzhou-23 spacecraft, sending a crew of astronauts to the country's Tiangong space station.

In March, Nasa announced a $20 billion programme to construct a permanent base powered by nuclear and solar energy at the Moon's south pole by 2032.

NASA is advancing development of Moon Base, a long-term lunar exploration and infrastructure initiative designed to enable sustained human presence and expanded scientific and commercial activity at the lunar South Pole. As part of the Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.