NASA says it wants to build bases on the moon. Maryland's Eastern Shore could become a key part of that effort.

“We’re going to the moon, and we’re going to build a moon base, and we’re going to stay,” Wallops Director David Pierce said Wednesday.

Pierce was among the government, business and education leaders gathered at Salisbury University for an industry day focused on turning Wallops’ growth into jobs and investment on Maryland’s Lower Shore.

NASA said in an Aug. 4 update that it is planning more than a return visit to the moon. The space agency envisions an outpost near the moon’s south pole, supplied by commercial landers and built in stages for scientific research, technology tests and, eventually, people. Its first phase calls for more than 20 robotic landings through 2029 to place instruments, prove equipment and begin assembling the infrastructure needed for human habitation.

Some of those missions could start at Wallops, just across the Maryland line in Virginia.

NASA expects larger rockets and crewed missions to remain centered at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Giovanni Rosanova, deputy director at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, said. Wallops would handle small and midsize launches, including robotic spacecraft capable of reaching lunar orbit or the surface. Rocket Lab’s Neutron, Northrop Grumman and Firefly Aerospace’s Eclipse, and possibly Firefly’s Alpha could fill those roles, he said.

Wallops’ lunar role would focus on launching cargo, scientific instruments and robotic missions rather than astronauts.

“Not humans, but all the rest can be done from Wallops,” Rosanova said.

Wallops has done it before. NASA launched the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, from the facility in 2013, sending a robotic spacecraft to study the moon’s thin atmosphere and dust.

More launches would mean more than streaking rocket sightings along the coast. They could bring contractors and suppliers and increase demand for housing, hotels, restaurants and public services. Nearly half of Wallops’ workforce lives in Maryland, officials said.

“Often we hear that Wallops is a hidden gem, and we want to make sure it is not hidden,” Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman said.

That effort will require Maryland and Virginia to work together, Lierman said.

“Recognizing that employment opportunities don’t start and end at the state line is really important,” she said.

But speakers described several obstacles between the Shore and that payoff, starting with workforce development. Rosanova said colleges must help “feed the talent stream” into Wallops, while Giordano said employers need a “direct line” in shaping curricula. Officials identified Salisbury University, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Wor-Wic Community College as potential partners in training, internships and career pipelines.

The region also needs development along the corridor leading to Wallops to recruit and retain workers. Local officials called for faster, clearer permitting for major projects.

“What works in Montgomery County, that doesn’t work here,” Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano said. She urged the creation of a formal regional aerospace partnership linking local governments, schools and businesses.

Del. Christopher Adams, an Eastern Shore Republican, warned that other states are spending heavily to capture a growing commercial space industry.

He said a bill that would have expanded Maryland’s Aerospace and Technology Commission and directed $30 million a year to it stalled in a Senate committee this year.

“We compete, or we don’t,” Adams said.

Rosanova said forums like Wednesday’s can help attract needed talent, suppliers and businesses to Wallops.

“We’ve been this well-kept secret for too long,” he said. “I think it’s about time we’re put on the map.”

_____

©2026 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.