Enclosure 

NASA Advisory Council Recommendation 

Plan for Lunar Sustainability 

2022-02-03

Name of Committee: Human Exploration and 

Operations Committee 

Chair of Committee: Mr. Wayne Hale 

Date of Council Public Deliberation: August 10, 2022 

Short Title of Recommendation: Plan for Lunar Sustainability

Recommendation: 

NASA should develop a plan for lunar sustainability beyond the currently planned Artemis 

missions. This plan should include the required capabilities/systems and timelines for 

development. The plan should include commercial and international involvement and be 

used to develop preliminary funding requirements. 

Major Reasons for the Recommendation: 

The current Artemis missions do not result in a sustained lunar presence as required by U.S. 

policy. Many capabilities will be required that are not planned beyond initial technology 

development. 

Consequences of No Action on the Recommendation: 

The risk is that Artemis will end like Apollo, with more flags and footprints, but no sustained 

presence. 

NASA Response: 

NASA concurs that sustained lunar presence requires a plan beyond the currently planned 

Artemis I-V missions. There are many definitions for “sustainability,” however, in this 

response, we are interpreting sustained to mean continued access to the lunar surface. 

NASA has begun working with U.S. industry and international space agencies to define 

objectives for the Moon and Mars, and recently released a refined set of Moon to Mars 

Objectives that resulted from thousands of write-in inputs (from industry, internationals, 

academia, and the NASA workforce) and two workshops with U.S. industry and international 

space agencies. As a part of this effort, NASA is in discussions with U.S. industry focused 

on commercial activities and with international space agencies to determine the infrastructure 

needed for long term, continued access, and sustainable commercial/industrial ventures on 

the Moon. 

 
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NASA’s near-term focus has been on the transportation systems to access the lunar surface. 

NASA is developing technologies and identifying new elements that will grow the lunar 

infrastructure and allow a smoother transition to commercial and international partner-led 

surface activities. 

Scientific discovery and technology advancement will continue to be key drivers for NASA’s 

planned lunar infrastructure and international space agencies around the world have the same 

drivers that compel them to invest in Artemis. Like NASA, these space agencies rely 

primarily on their national industrial bases to innovate new capabilities. The success of 

NASA’s commercial crew and cargo programs in low-Earth orbit (LEO) have bolstered a 

private LEO economy. NASA is continuing to work with industry partners to understand an 

evolution of a lunar economy. 

The goals for Artemis are vastly different from Apollo. The primary risk of reaching the 

same fate is if cost for access to the Moon holds or increases, or if public interest declines. 

We believe that public-private partnerships and service-based models will drive down access 

costs while simultaneously increasing public interest and generating demand in future 

markets like prospecting, academic research, tourism, supply chain, and logistics. As these 

markets develop, NASA will become one of many customers for lunar access and will be 

able to conduct long-term research on the Moon while focusing development funds on the 

capabilities needed to send humans to Mars.