NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has announced a new plan to take the US to the moon, "Ignition," which aims to build a permanent lunar surface base before the end of President Donald J. Trump's term. The plan includes three deployment phases, which will progress from landing robots to building human habitats and establishing a permanent base crew. However, the timeline is considered fantasy due to the unforgiving physics and slow progress in aerospace engineering. The hardware required for all milestones is not yet ready, including the landers that will fly humans from the moon’s orbit to its surface and back. Isaacman believes the plan positions the U.S. to compete with China's 100-year plan to build its own lunar base and set up a network of spaceships.