NASA's chief says China is heading for the same few landing spots on the Moon. Partners now have to bring something NASA needs, in time.

The stories

5 stories on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

1. 01

   NASA's chief says China is heading for the same few landing spots on the Moon. Partners now have to bring something NASA needs, in time.

   $5bn+

   that Italy is putting into one of the first homes for astronauts on the Moon

   Isaacman called it the model of a good deal; two Italian astronauts go to the surface in return [1]

   1.5 of 3 tonnes

   the cargo ESA's Argonaut lander could carry, against Blue Origin's first lander

   Blue Moon Mark 1 is due to fly to a ridge near the south pole next year [1]

   Early 2027

   when China's Chang'e 7 robot mission to the south pole is now due

   it has already slipped; Isaacman had spoken of a launch in two months [1]

   12% of $13.5bn

   the share of last year's money for space companies that went to European firms

   US organisations took 68% [3]

   What happened

   • Jared Isaacman, the head of NASA, spoke on 16 September at a conference for US military leaders and defence companies near Washington, DC. [1][2]
   • He said the best place for a Moon base is a small area near the Moon's south pole.
   • Deep craters there hold water ice. [1]
   • That ice could give a base water, air and rocket fuel.
   • A few crater ridges above it get sunlight almost all the time, which means power. [1]
   • Isaacman compared the area to a city with only so many good parking spots.
   • He said China, working with Russia, is heading for the same places. [1]
   • So NASA will now take help from other countries only when it is a good deal that speeds up the mission, he said. [1]
   • He praised Italy, which is putting more than $5bn into one of the first homes for astronauts on the Moon.
   • Two Italian astronauts get to walk on the surface in return. [1]
   • He also praised Japan, which is building a rover with air inside for astronauts to drive.
   • Japan also gets two seats to the Moon. [1]
   • He described one partner offering a robot lander for the mid-2030s, and said China would be launching there long before then. [1]
   • Ars Technica says that partner was almost certainly ESA, the European Space Agency, whose Argonaut lander would carry half the cargo of Blue Origin's first Moon lander. [1]
   • Europe wants more space power of its own.
   • At a Paris summit on 10 September, France's president Emmanuel Macron said Europe must fly its own astronauts. [3]

   ESA's Argonaut lander1.5 tonnes

   Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 13 tonnes

   Who is involved

   • Jared Isaacman the head of NASA, in his tenth month; he says NASA will take only partner deals that speed up the Moon programme
   • ESA the European Space Agency, run by 23 member countries; it wants Moon seats for its astronauts but has no agreed part in NASA's Moon base
   • Italy and Japan countries building a Moon home and a Moon rover for NASA; each gets two astronaut seats
   • China plans its own base near the Moon's south pole, with Russia; its Chang'e 7 robot mission is due in early 2027

   How it unfolded

   1. 2024 The US and Japan sign the deal for Japan's Moon rover [1]
   2. March 2026 NASA cancels Gateway, its planned station circling the Moon, and signs Italy's Moon home deal [1]
   3. 10 Sept At a Paris space summit, Macron says Europe must fly its own crews [3]
   4. 16 Sept Isaacman says NASA will only do good deals with partners [1][2]
   5. Early 2027 China's Chang'e 7 robot mission is due to head for the south pole [1]

   Why it matters

   Watch whether ESA offers NASA a part no US company is building, since Isaacman says that is now the price of a seat for Europe's astronauts on the Moon. [1]

   The truth

   • What is really going on NASA is now choosing its Moon partners by whether their part arrives before China reaches the south pole, and a European lander promised for the mid-2030s failed that test.
   • Who gains US companies building Moon landers, such as Blue Origin — Isaacman said partner offers that compete with what US industry is building will not work, which keeps that work for them. [1]
   • Who gains Italy and Japan — Each gets two astronaut seats to the Moon for building a part NASA had no US contract for: a Moon home and a rover with air inside. [1]
   • Who pays ESA and its astronauts — Its Argonaut lander was waved away as too slow and too small, and its role in the Moon base is still undefined. [1]
   • Who pays Canada — The Gateway arm it was building lost its purpose when NASA cancelled the station. [1]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Which partner offered the mid-2030s lander.

     Isaacman did not name it. Ars Technica says it was almost certainly ESA and its Argonaut lander, but neither side has confirmed it. [1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether ESA's astronauts keep the Moon seats promised under Gateway.

     Those seats came with Europe's parts for Gateway, which NASA cancelled in March, and no new deal has been agreed. [1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether China is really aiming for the exact spots NASA wants.

     That is Isaacman's claim, made to a defence audience. China's Chang'e 7 has already slipped to early 2027. [1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     What Canada will now build for the Moon.

     Its robot arm was meant for Gateway, and an arm on the Moon's surface needs a different design. A US trade war with Canada makes a new deal harder. [1]

   Good news

   • Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen flew around the Moon on Artemis II earlier this year, the first time Canada has had a seat on an Artemis mission.

1. 02

   Judge lets SpaceX swap land in a wildlife refuge

   What happened

   • A US federal judge in Texas, Fernando Rodriguez Jr., refused on Monday to block a land swap that gives SpaceX more than 700 acres of a wildlife refuge. [4]
   • SpaceX hands over 683 acres it owns, and gets land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley refuge closer to its launch pad near the Mexican border. [4]
   • The US Fish and Wildlife Service approved the deal in June. [4]
   • The judge said the groups suing had weak evidence of harm, and that a pause would hurt SpaceX's ability to meet its milestones and contracts. [4]

   Why it matters

   The Center for Biological Diversity, which sued alongside tribal groups, says bulldozers could move in as soon as next week, and that the lawsuit will continue. [4]

   The new land sits closer to SpaceX's Texas launch site, which the company has been growing for more than a decade. [4]

   How it works

   When a rival sets the date, a late offer gets turned down

   Once a rival plans to reach a place first, a partner's help is judged by when it arrives, not by how big it is.

   The twist

   Once a rival has a date, a partner's help is measured by its arrival date. A lander promised for the mid-2030s was worth little to NASA, because China plans to reach the same spot in 2027.

   The picture

   early 2027China's Chang'e 7 robot

   vsvs

   mid-2030sLander offered to NASA

   Step by step

   1. 1 A rival names a date to reach the same place
   2. 2 That date becomes your deadline too
   3. 3 Every offer of help is now judged by when it arrives
   4. 4 A big offer that comes after the date is turned down
   5. 5 A smaller one that fills a gap now is taken

   The same force, elsewhere today

   Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

   • The judge and SpaceX's land swap

     The judge counted a delay to SpaceX's milestones and contracts as a real harm, while the groups suing had to prove damage to the land.

   • The top US officer on the Moon battlefield

     General Caine told the forces to change now, because rivals could contest space as far out as the Moon.

   Where you've seen this

   School group projects

   a perfect section handed in after the deadline earns nothing for the group

   Vaccines in an outbreak

   a shot that is ready after the wave has passed protects far fewer people

   Building a stadium for a games

   a city picks the builder who can finish before the opening day, not the cheapest one

   The catch

   It only works while the rival's date is real. China's Chang'e 7 has already slipped to early 2027, and a buyer who refuses slow help can find it needs that help once the rival's date moves.

   And the whole of it

   China's Moon timetable changed plans this week for engineers at ESA and for astronauts in Italy, Japan and Canada. None of them chose that timetable, and each of them sees only the part that lands on their own work.

   The truth

   • Who gains SpaceX — The judge's ruling lets it take refuge land closer to its Texas launch pad while the lawsuit goes on. [4]
   • Who pays The Lower Rio Grande Valley wildlife refuge — More than 700 acres of it pass to SpaceX, and campaigners say bulldozers could arrive as soon as next week. [4]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether the lawsuit can still undo the refuge land swap.

     The judge only refused to pause the swap while the case goes on. The groups suing say they will keep fighting. [4]

1. 03

   Top US officer says the battlefield reaches the Moon

   What happened

   • General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the highest-ranking US military officer, said on 16 September that today's battlefield runs from the seabed to the space around the Moon. [2]
   • He spoke at the Air & Space Forces Association's conference near Washington, the same one where NASA's head gave his Moon speech. [2][1]
   • Caine did not name China and gave no details of what fighting there would look like. [2]
   • He said US forces cannot assume they will have safe, open access anywhere, and must adapt now. [2]

   Why it matters

   Both the US and China plan bases near the Moon's south pole, the area Isaacman described the same week. [2][1]

   The day before, the Space Force's own chief said openly that it already runs weapons in orbit. [2]

   How it works

   General Caine told the forces to change now, because rivals could contest space as far out as the Moon.

   The idea, in story 02: When a rival sets the date, a late offer gets turned down →

   The truth

   • What is really going on The same week, the top US military officer called the space out to the Moon a battlefield, and a Texas judge refused to slow SpaceX down on a land swap. [1][2][4]
   • Nobody knows yet

     What fighting around the Moon would actually look like.

     General Caine used the phrase twice and gave no details. [2]

2. 04

   Starship's booster is on the pad, but not its licence

   What happened

   • SpaceX rolled Super Heavy, the giant first stage of its Starship rocket, onto its Texas launch pad overnight on 20 to 21 September. [5][6]
   • Starship's first try at reaching orbit is set for 28 September, six days later than first planned. [7]
   • It can only fly once the US Federal Aviation Administration approves an orbital licence, which it has never given for a spacecraft this size. [5]
   • If the upper stage could not steer itself home, large pieces could survive reentry and hit the ground, which is why the regulator is checking. [5]

   Starship's 26 new satellites26 Tbps

   One Falcon 9 load of older satellites2.6 Tbps

   Why it matters

   The flight is meant to carry 26 larger Starlink internet satellites, the first of a new kind that only Starship can launch. [7]

   SpaceX says this one flight adds about ten times the internet capacity of a Falcon 9 load of its current satellites. [5]

   The truth

   • Who pays People under Starship's path home — If the upper stage failed to steer down, large pieces could survive reentry, which is the risk the regulator is checking. [5]
   • Nobody knows yet

     When the US aviation regulator will approve Starship's first orbital flight.

     The 28 September date depends on a licence it has never given for a craft this size, and it has not said when it will decide. [5]

   Good news

   • On Starship's last test flight in July, the new Starlink satellites it carried unfolded their solar panels, photographed the rocket's heat shield and linked up with the rest of the network by laser before they came down as planned.
3. 05

   A camera firm joins NASA's nuclear Mars craft

   What happened

   • TRL11, a US company that makes cameras for spacecraft, has won a NASA contract to build the cameras and small onboard computers for Space Reactor-1 Freedom. [8]
   • SR-1 is a $2bn NASA mission due to launch to Mars in late 2028, the first craft to travel between planets on power from a nuclear reactor. [8]
   • It will also drop three small helicopters, called SkyFall, at Mars to scout for future crews. [8]
   • TRL11's cameras are meant to film the moment the helicopters are released. [8]

   Why it matters

   Its chief executive said it will be the first time a camera the company built travels to another planet. [8]

   Firefly Aerospace has a $13m contract for the shell that protects the helicopters on the way down. [8]

   The truth

   • Who gains TRL11 — The contract puts its cameras on a NASA mission to another planet for the first time. [8]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How much TRL11's camera contract is worth.

     Neither NASA nor the company has published a figure. [8]