NASA awards contracts to Astrobotic (unit), Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines related to Moon Base Program
Announced Tuesday the selection of three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines will deliver NASA science payloads to the lunar surface as the agency builds the first outpost on another celestial world. - Astrobotic is awarded $297.9 million total for two deliveries, as well as Firefly Aerospace $144.2 million and Intuitive Machines $148.3 million for one delivery each as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, a backbone of the Moon Base. Each will use updated versions of already-flown lander designs to enable NASA’s increased mission cadence. With 17 lunar surface deliveries across multiple providers, NASA also announced new opportunities for American industry to contribute to the Moon Base. The agency is considering plans to send to the Moon, PROMISE (Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration), an engineering development version of the Mars Perseverance rover. Agency experts will define potential opportunities for PROMISE to characterize the lunar surface, subsurface, and prospect for resources. In.
Announced Tuesday the selection of three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program.
Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines will deliver NASA science payloads to the lunar surface as the agency builds the first outpost on another celestial world. - Astrobotic is awarded $297.9 million total for two deliveries, as well as Firefly Aerospace $144.2 million and Intuitive Machines $148.3 million for one delivery each as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, a backbone of the Moon Base.
Each will use updated versions of already-flown lander designs to enable NASA’s increased mission cadence.
With 17 lunar surface deliveries across multiple providers, NASA also announced new opportunities for American industry to contribute to the Moon Base.
The agency is considering plans to send to the Moon, PROMISE (Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration), an engineering development version of the Mars Perseverance rover.
Agency experts will define potential opportunities for PROMISE to characterize the lunar surface, subsurface, and prospect for resources.
In addition, NASA plans to solicit proposals in the coming months for lunar landers to deliver a power and avionics technology demonstration, another science manifest, and a South Pole optical imager.
NASA also will share an open solicitation for Moon Base technology demonstrations and seek a lunar communication and navigation relay constellation to enable improved communication between Moon Base elements and Earth.
The awards announced June 30 will play a critical role in establishing the infrastructure for lunar surface operations.
The companies are responsible for initiating and executing procurements, providing an assessment of a similar previou