NASA chief: I'm only interested in "good deals" from international partners

NASA must be far more selective about the international partnerships it signs, as the race to the Moon turns from a contest for national prestige into a competition for territory and resources, the agency's administrator says.

Jared Isaacman, ten months into leading the world's largest civilian space agency, told military leaders and defense contractors near Washington, DC, last week that the best site for a lunar base is a small region near the south pole — and that who gets there first has tangible consequences.

Limited parking spots

The south pole holds large amounts of water ice on crater floors sheltered from sunlight — ice that could supply a base with water, air and rocket fuel and serve as a springboard for Mars. Crater ridges above the ice get near-continuous sunlight for power.

"It's a big Moon, with the surface area of Africa," Isaacman said at the Air & Space Forces Association's Air, Space & Cyber Conference. "The south pole is more akin to Washington, DC, when there are only so many roads and so many good parking spots that you're going to want to occupy."

China and Russia are heading for the same locations and could put a nuclear reactor there, he added.

"We're only doing good deals"

Other countries have a place in NASA's programs only if they contribute meaningfully, he said. "This is right from the top, from the president of the United States: we're only doing good deals, and we haven't always done good deals. There was absolutely a time where we were trying to make everyone happy," he said.

He named NASA's March agreement with Italy, which is committing over $5 billion to one of the first lunar habitation modules, earning two Italian astronauts seats. Japan is committing billions to a pressurized rover, with two seats for its astronauts.

ESA and Canada in limbo

The role of the European Space Agency in the Moon Base program is undefined: ESA had signed up to supply modules for the Gateway station, cancelled in March. Canada, due to build a robotic arm for Gateway, is also weighing its contribution amid a US-Canada trade war.

Isaacman recalled one partner offering a robotic lander to Shackleton Crater by the mid-2030s. "I was like, 'The Chinese are launching there in two months,'" he said of the Chang'e 7 mission, now delayed to early 2027. He did not name the partner, but it is almost certainly ESA, seeking a role for its Argonaut cargo lander (up to 1.5 metric tons).

"We've got to get in touch with reality and make meaningful contributions," Isaacman said.