By 2032, NASA plans to build a permanent base on the moon. This March the US space agency released details of the robotic landers, hopping drones, and vehicles it plans to use to help build the lunar base. The US wants to land Americans on the Moon before Trump finishes his final term as president in 2029.

China also has ambitions to return humans to the lunar surface by 2030, so the two countries are competing to try to achieve their goals as quickly as possible. This had happened before between the US and the Soviet Union.

According to NASA’s plans, the base will be powered by nuclear and solar energy at the Moon’s South Pole and is expected to cost around $20 billion to construct.

Once it is built, it will allow the US to carry out scientific experiments, mine for valuable resources, and travel to Mars more easily.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin is one of several companies picked to build the machines, which include a lunar lander called Endurance. It would be able to carry out precise landings, as well as autonomous navigation and control. The machine will also include high-resolution cameras and tools that use reflected laser light to help the craft land.

NASA expects the robots to continue exploring the Moon until 2029, with 25 launches and 4 metric tonnes of cargo planned for landing.