NASA Funding Backs Work On Expandable Lunar Habitat
New Collaboration Targets Pressurized Infrastructure For Long-Term Moon Stays
NASA has selected Max Space Inc. for funding under its Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO) program, advancing testing of the company’s expandable habitat technology to support a sustained human presence on the Moon.
“NASA’s lunar strategy makes clear that the Moon is becoming an infrastructure mission. Habitats are central to that mission.”
Saleem Miyan, Max Space
The Cape Canaveral, Florida-based space infrastructure firm is developing next-generation habitats that launch in compact form and then deploy into large, pressurized environments on orbit and on planetary surfaces, with the new collaboration focused on human-rated lunar surface applications aligned with NASA’s Artemis campaign and Moon to Mars architecture. Under Artemis, NASA and its partners are shifting from short-term lunar visits to building the infrastructure needed for astronauts to stay and work on the Moon, particularly near the lunar South Pole, where pressurized volume becomes essential for living, science, mission management, and crew recovery between surface operations.
“America’s next great space milestone will not be a footprint. It will be permanence,” said Saleem Miyan, co-founder and CEO of Max Space. “NASA’s lunar strategy makes clear that the Moon is becoming an infrastructure mission. Habitats are central to that mission, and this ACO award advances one of the hardest and most important capabilities required: large, safe, affordable volume that can launch compact and expand where it is needed.”
Max Space was founded to address a key constraint in human exploration: conventional rigid structures do not scale efficiently to the volume astronauts require for long-duration missions. Its expandable habitat architecture is designed to reduce mass and packaging burden at launch and then deploy into roomy, pressurized environments once in space or on a planetary surface, opening the door to larger living and working areas without prohibitive launch penalties.
For lunar surface operations, Max Space’s technology is intended to support crew living quarters, laboratories, medical and logistics zones, mission operations centers, and other critical infrastructure needed to move from brief sorties to a permanent American foothold on the Moon. Miyan said the company’s goal is “direct and urgent”: to place a U.S. flag-bearing expandable habitat on the lunar surface in 2028, generate real data from the environment, and provide NASA with a scalable infrastructure asset that can underpin sustained lunar operations.
The planned 2028 mission is designed to demonstrate expandable habitat performance in the environment that matters most to lunar planners: the Moon itself. Max Space expects to collect data on deployment, structural behavior, thermal performance, survival through the roughly two-week lunar night, and landing-site conditions, as well as the operational realities of assembling useful pressurized infrastructure alongside NASA-selected payloads that will be announced at a later date.
“The country does not need another abstract conversation about living on the Moon,” Miyan said. “It needs tested systems, real flight data, and companies willing to move at the speed of the national mission. Max Space is proud to be aligned with NASA at this pivotal moment and committed to delivering the habitat capability that permanent lunar presence demands.”
Beyond the Moon, Max Space sees expandable habitats as foundational to the broader space economy. The same architecture could support commercial space stations, cislunar platforms, orbital research facilities, sovereign astronaut missions, and habitation for future Mars transit missions, offering large-volume, low-mass pressurized environments wherever crews need to live and work beyond Earth.