NASA awarded nearly $600 million across three commercial lunar delivery orders that will send science and technology payloads to the moon in late 2028 as part of the agency’s Moon Base work.
NASA awarded the new lunar lander contracts to Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, the agency said in a June 30 announcement. CLPS is a backbone of the Moon Base program.
The orders include $297.9 million to Astrobotic for two deliveries, $144.2 million to Firefly Aerospace, and $148.3 million to Intuitive Machines for one delivery each.
“These new awards to our commercial partners, totaling nearly $600 million to land more missions on the Moon with science payloads, demonstrate our commitment to accelerating our effort to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface, and give us more opportunity to develop the skills we need to prosper there,” said Lori Glaze, NASA associate administrator for the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate.
None of the companies are designing their landers from scratch; rather, each will use updated versions of already-flown lander designs to enable NASA’s increased mission cadence, the agency said.
Each delivery will carry three NASA payloads to the lunar surface:
- Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Studies. This array of four cameras uses a technique called stereo photogrammetry to produce a 3D view of the impact of an engine’s exhaust plume on lunar dust as the lander descends on the Moon’s surface
- Laser Retroreflector Array. This array reflects laser beams transmitted by Moon orbiters or landing spacecraft to help them determine their orbit position or navigate to the surface
- Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer. This instrument helps to better understand the radiation environment from a variety of lunar transit approaches and at different locations on the lunar surface
According to NASA, it’s also reviewing options for these landers to deliver potential additional payloads to the Moon.
Additionally, NASA will solicit proposals in the coming months for lunar landers to deliver a power and avionics technology demonstration, science payloads, and a South Pole optical imager. The agency said it also will seek Moon Base technology demonstrations and a lunar communications and navigation relay constellation to improve links between Moon Base elements and Earth.