ISTANBUL

NASA has scrapped its earlier plan to place a station in lunar orbit and will instead redirect those components toward building a $20 billion base on the Moon’s surface over the next seven years, according to its new administrator, Jared Isaacman.

Isaacman, who took the US space agency helm in December, announced the shift on Tuesday at the start of a full-day event at NASA headquarters in Washington, where he presented a broad set of revisions to Artemis, the agency’s main lunar exploration program.

“It should not really surprise anyone that we ​are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing on infrastructure that supports sustained operations on the lunar surface,” Isaacman told delegates at the event.

The Lunar Gateway, which had been under development by contractors Northrop Grumman and Vantor, previously known as Maxar, was originally intended to operate as an outpost in orbit around the Moon.

Converting it for use on the lunar surface, however, would be technically challenging.

“Despite some of the very real hardware and schedule challenges, we can repurpose equipment and international partner commitments to support surface and ​other program objectives,” ​Isaacman added.

Gateway had been planned as both a scientific research hub and a staging point where astronauts could transfer to lunar landers before traveling down to the Moon.

The policy changes Isaacman has introduced in recent weeks are now significantly altering Artemis and affecting contracts worth billions of dollars.