NASA’s new moon base project requires operational technology systems in space, but they are vulnerable.

Newly anointed NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman made a $20 billion announcement on March 24, 2026. To the delight of space enthusiasts everywhere, Isaacman said NASA was cancelling its project to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and would reorient to building a $20 billion base on the surface of the moon. The new base, using the parts already created for the now defunct orbital station project, comes as China announced plans to land its taikonauts on the moon in 2030.

Building a base on the moon before 2030 is an ambitious and noble goal that will inherently require industrial processes controlled and monitored remotely by OT systems. It will also require thinking through problems that make for much less clickable headlines such as how we secure OT systems in space. And if they're not secured, we risk billion dollar failures of deployed equipment and loss of life from a future cyberattack.

Building a moon base before the foundational and more boring issues of OT security are decided is a recipe for failure before the countdown clock begins. Creating a minimum OT security standard is not a function that can be left to industry, as we've seen with the cybersecurity industry on earth. This action must be undertaken by the federal government or, preferably, an international coalition.