Explore Mars takes H2M2 summit to Houston after Artemis II

Explore Mars will host its 2026 Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit in Houston from July 21-23, bringing NASA, industry, university and policy leaders together after Artemis II’s historic lunar flyby. The event at Rice University will focus on sustaining lunar exploration, preparing for Mars missions and turning space technologies into benefits on Earth.

Why it matters: - Artemis II showed humans can again travel beyond low-Earth orbit, shifting the conversation from proving the trip is possible to building the systems for repeated missions. - H2M2 2026 aims to shape the next phase of lunar exploration and Mars planning from Houston, a city central to U.S. human spaceflight. - The summit also frames deep-space exploration as a driver of technology, health, food and infrastructure advances that can apply on Earth.

What happened: - Explore Mars, Inc. will host the 2026 Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit, or H2M2, July 21-23 at Rice University’s BioScience Research Collaborative in Houston. - The summit is moving to Houston for the first time. - The event comes three months after Artemis II took astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than half a century. - The conference will bring together NASA leaders, astronauts, scientists, innovators and space executives.

The details: - The three-day program will focus on the capabilities, partnerships and decisions needed for a sustained presence at the Moon and eventual human missions to Mars. - Sessions will cover lessons from Artemis II, a lunar base, the Moon’s role in Mars missions, commercial space infrastructure, nuclear propulsion and power, lunar and Mars logistics, public-private partnerships and NASA science. - The summit will also examine astronaut physical and mental health, autonomous medical care, human-spaceflight analogs, food and nutrition, biological adaptation, humanities and culture. - A special Mars Innovation Workshop will use the challenge of feeding a thriving community on Mars to explore food production, biomanufacturing, personalized nutrition, circular resource use and resilient supply chains. - Featured speakers include Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center; Kristin Houston, president of Space Propulsion and Power Systems at L3Harris; Michael Gold, president of Redwire Space; Dr. Leroy Chiao, former NASA astronaut and CEO of OneOrbit; Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, retired NASA astronaut; and Dr. Scott Parazynski, physician and former NASA astronaut. - Other listed participants include leaders from Blue Origin, Intuitive Machines, Rocket Lab, MDA, Interlune, Volta Space Technologies, Advanced Space, Qwaltec, Axiom, Firefly Aerospace, Voyager Technologies, Amentum, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Astrobotic, the Translational Research Institute for Space Health and The Planetary Society. - Representative Brian Babin of Texas will provide a welcome video. - The summit website says registration, the complete agenda, speaker information and online viewing details are available at the Explore Mars summit page. - The 2025 summit at George Washington University drew nearly 11,000 online participants. - The 2026 event will be available in person and through an online broadcast.

Between the lines: - Explore Mars is using Artemis II’s momentum to push a practical question: how to turn a historic lunar flight into a repeatable architecture for the Moon and Mars. - Houston gives the summit a symbolic and operational backdrop, pairing NASA’s Johnson Space Center with a growing commercial space ecosystem in Texas. - The emphasis on health, food and culture signals that long-duration exploration is being treated as a human systems challenge, not only an engineering one.

What's next: - Attendees will use the July 21-23 summit to weigh what NASA, industry, universities, researchers and international partners need to align on next. - Additional discussions will examine whether the United States must be first to return astronauts to the lunar surface, Texas’s role in the commercial aerospace economy and space exploration as a source of international cooperation. - Explore Mars says the summit is intended to help build a sustainable human presence on Mars while strengthening space capabilities on Earth.

The bottom line: - H2M2 2026 is a post-Artemis II strategy session in Houston, where the space community will try to convert a historic Moon mission into a workable path for lunar permanence and Mars exploration.