WASHINGTON, USA, Sept. 30, 2026 - NASA selected three new science payload suites on 30 September to support development of its planned Moon Base.^[1] They will be delivered to the lunar surface through NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.^[2] One suite, LEMS-SP, will monitor micrometeoroids, volatiles and moonquakes to assess the hazards facing Moon Base infrastructure.^[3] Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said the payloads will reduce risks to astronauts and help prepare for missions to Mars.^[4] NASA is working with commercial and international partners on a permanent human outpost near the Moon's south pole, which it treats as a proving ground for Mars.^[5] Teresa Kinney, chief engineer of a joint NASA, FAA and US Space Force project on the explosive risks of liquid oxygen and methane propellant,^[6] said the logistics of a sustained lunar presence will mirror the lessons learned from running the International Space Station.^[7] Impact Insight. The lunar south pole is a focus because some of its craters never see sunlight and are thought to hold water ice, which could one day supply water, oxygen and rocket propellant. The link to planetary defense is partly direct: monitoring micrometeoroids on the Moon shows how often small space rocks strike an airless world, and a lasting lunar presence builds the deep-space capability future asteroid missions would need.