NASA has announced ambitious plans for its return to the moon, including cancelling a planned space station in lunar orbit to use its parts for a $20 billion permanent base on the moon's surface, while also sending a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars. The announcement comes as unprecedented wildfires spread across the central and western US, leading to significant wildfires in Colorado, parts of the Great Plains and Nebraska. The new lunar base plans will use drones and robotic landers to establish a nuclear by 2036, motivated as much by a desire to stay ahead of China in the new space race as they are by any scientific purpose. The agency is now aiming for annual launches and two lunar landings in 2028.