NASA plans to launch a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars by 2028, a major step for deep space exploration and its planned moon base.

NASA announced plans to construct a $20 billion ‌base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years, according to its new chief Jared Isaacman. NBC News' Brian Cheung talks to Director of Government Relations for the Planetary Society Jack Kiraly about what this plan could mean for the space industry.

NASA's Gateway lunar space station won't launch in new changes to the Artemis program, which include ramping up development of a $20 billion moon base.

The new initiative includes a base on the moon, a nuclear-powered flight to Mars and a replacement for the ISS.

In an on-going overhaul of NASA's Artemis program, agency officials say it will take seven years to build a sophisticated base on the moon.

NASA announced on Tuesday it has canceled plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use components from the project to build a $20 billion base on the ​moon's surface, while also planning to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars.

NASA has big, potentially revolutionary plans coming up. On March 24, the agency announced that it wants to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars by the end of 2028. If successful, it would be the first probe to use nuclear propulsion to travel beyond Earth’s orbit.

NASA is hitting the reset button on its return to the moon and going even bigger. The agency is fast tracking a permanent base on the moon's surface.