According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Italy has committed more than $5 billion to the development of a lunar habitat for the agency’s Moon Base programme. In return, the country has secured spots for two Italian astronauts on future missions to the surface of the Moon.
Speaking during the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on 15 September, Isaacman cited Italy’s contribution to NASA’s lunar exploration programme as an example of what he described as a “good deal” with an international partner. The centrepiece of that contribution is the Multi-Purpose Habitat (MPH), a pressurised lunar habitat module being developed by Thales Alenia Space under an Italian Space Agency (ASI) contract for future long-duration missions to the Moon.
“They’re committing over $5 billion to building one of the first habitation modules,” Isaacman said. “It likely will be the first real habitation module that makes its way to the lunar surface. And as a result, you’re going to see two Italian astronauts on the surface of the Moon.”
When Italy and NASA signed a Statement of Intent in March, they agreed that at least one Italian astronaut would take part in a future Artemis lunar mission. Less than a month later, the late ASI President Teodoro Valente said that figure had increased to two following discussions with NASA in Washington, although he stressed that the arrangement had “not yet been officially formalised.” Isaacman’s latest comments appear to provide the clearest confirmation yet that Italy is, in fact, expected to receive two lunar surface opportunities for its astronauts.
Isaacman’s comments come as Italy and NASA prepare to formalise the next stage of their lunar cooperation. In a 9 September summary of its efforts at the International Space Summit in Paris, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) said its delegation had met with NASA ahead of the signing of a new agreement in Washington covering Italy’s contribution of the MPH.
The MPH module is expected to measure three metres in width and six metres in length, with a mass of roughly 15 tonnes. It was designed to accommodate two astronauts for missions lasting between seven and 30 days. It will be equipped with wheels for precise positioning on the lunar surface, enabling it to support crewed missions at different locations. This functionality could, however, be revisited now that NASA is moving towards a more fixed Moon Base architecture.
Most recently, the MPH design passed a System Requirements Review in May, allowing the project to progress towards a Preliminary Design Review expected in 2027. It is currently expected to be ready in 2032 ahead of a launch in 2033.
It is mobile habitat like on the render above?
That is the most recently released design, yes. But that may change.
5 billion dollars that will help to make the moon a property of the US, in return for two tickets to the moon and back. A good deal, indeed. But not for Italy.
I can only agree with this comment. Italy really let the USA take them for a ride on this one. That money would have been better invested in an Italian or European project!
Aside from it being a huge expense covered for the US for two seats it sort of feels odd to go so much in after Gateway got cancelled(while Artemis still has plenty of questions).
Also MSR being cancelled and the USA’s yearly budgets continuing to start of with “what if we just quit all collaborations?”, although that’s more about ESA and Europe as a whole than specifically Italy.
Is Spacex to take the Italians up and back?
Good news. Hoping Thales-Alenia will build this hab without corrosion issues.
I agree with Commenter. The USA is just unreliable. They think they are big enough to make it alone, and that is just what they tend to do, so they would not have to share any benefit, not even the crumbles. On the other hand, S. Korea, Japan, India and many others, even including ESA and Russia, do not have enough resources individually to compete with the US (or China) in this race. But maybe some of them could if they stopped helping the big guys and if they joined forces between them instead. The moon has never belonged to anyone. Can we afford it to become a property of the US and China?
Is the intellectual property, the design, the manufacturing of this the property of ISA, NASA, Thales-Alenia? Because I can only agree with most of the commenters here and say that this feels short sighted and essentially pathetic, Europeans working hard and paying billions to boost the US that can’t stop insulting them to the moon only for the Americans to then turn around and claim the moon for themselves forcing Europeans to pay for future access or denying it altogether. However, if the end result of this is that Italians have working, proven design for a lunar habitat that can also be used for future European mission then that’s at least something, even if I would be much happier if Europeans weren’t paying billions to boost America.