Directed-Call 3 Moon Base Data Gaps

Directed Topic Call #3: Data Gaps

NextSTEP-3 Appendix B
Directed-Topic Call 3 – Moon Base Data Gaps

12 November 2026

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058

Directed Topic Call #3: Data Gaps

Directed-Topic Call 3: Moon Base Data Gaps

1. Overview and Mission Need

This directed-topic call defines data gaps that NASA intends to close in support of the agency’s Moon Base Program. NASA is building a Moon Base at the lunar South Pole to enable groundbreaking science and an enduring human presence on the Moon. This is a unique environment that carries both immense scientific promise and many new challenges. NASA has identified a set of architecture-driven data gaps — information that can help enable exploration, inform system and mission design, and contribute to site selection and planning.
NASA includes external partners to identify missions, payloads, sensors/instruments, and data sets that can fulfill these identified needs and enable early missions. For more information about NASA’s Moon Base plans and architecture, refer to the Moon Base website 1 and human exploration architecture website. 2

2. Objectives

The primary objective of this call is to identify missions, payloads, or data sets that can provide the data identified in NASA’s priority lunar data gaps. From the full set of data gaps, for this directed call NASA has identified a set of priority gaps that can enable initial Moon Base missions.
Offerors may propose a mission; a payload, an instrument, or a sensor that can be manifested aboard a future NASA-managed mission; or a targeted sale of existing data. Successful responses will be able to address or progress closure toward one or more of the focused, near-term, high-priority data gaps listed below. The below list of priority gaps is scoped to emphasize data that can significantly impact initial Moon Base missions (e.g., charactering the environment, de-risking operations, etc.).

3. Priority Data Gaps

The data gaps below represent critical areas for investigation to enable early Moon Base operations. They emphasize characterization of the overall lunar environment, specific sites, and the effects of initial missions on future operations and infrastructure (i.e., the

https://www.nasa.gov/moonbase/
https://www.nasa.gov/architecture/

Directed Topic Call #3: Data Gaps
induced environment). These topics also offer cross-cutting potential for additional science and technology development.
This priority list is specifically focused on near-term Moon Base data needs. It is presented