NASA unveiled a broad package of Moon Base awards on Saturday, naming eight companies eligible for lunar delivery missions worth up to $10 billion, moving forward with a nuclear-powered rover for the Moon's South Pole, and ordering launch and orbital transport services valued at about $1.3 billion. The announcements were made at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Administrator Jared Isaacman said NASA is "building the Moon Base mission by mission," with today's announcements expanding nearly every part of the campaign. He said that when astronauts return to the Moon, they will arrive with the first elements of the base already waiting on the surface.
Carlos García-Galán, manager of the Moon Base Program, said the program has made “incredible strides” in the eight months since Ignition, consolidating efforts into a streamlined program and evolving the human exploration architecture into an iterative, sustained campaign. He said the program was forging new partnerships “to accelerate development.”
The awards advance NASA's work with American industry to establish a sustained presence at the Moon's South Pole. NASA plans to send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to that region. It also says it will establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface and build on that foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.
Under CLPS 2, the next phase of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, NASA selected Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, iSpace US, Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems, SpaceX, and Voyager Technologies to compete for lunar surface delivery missions. The companies will manage, build, and operate landers carrying NASA science, technology, and infrastructure payloads to the Moon under a 10-year, multiple-award contract with a combined maximum value of $10 billion. NASA also raised the existing CLPS 1.0 contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion to support initial Phase One objectives; that contract runs through November 2028, with an additional five years to complete awarded deliveries through November 2033.
On the rover front, NASA is proceeding with PROMISE, a six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover that will land at the lunar South Pole to characterize the surface and subsurface, assess resource potential, and inform landing site selection. It will carry a drill to extract regolith from about 3 feet below the surface, spectrometers, temperature and radiation sensors, and visible-light cameras, and will demonstrate a radiation-tolerant computing system and advanced autonomy. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory will manage the mission and build the rover from spare flight components and engineering test models for the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers. NASA is targeting a late 2028 launch and planning an 18-month mission, with Blue Origin awarded a $94 million base contract, plus a $140 million option based on performance, to deliver the rover on its Mark 1 lander.
For transportation, NASA awarded six task orders worth approximately $1.3 billion combined to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space under the Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare launch services contract. Three mission types will allow NASA flexibility to fly demonstrations: CAPSTONE 02, testing proximity maneuvers, navigation, and communications around the Moon; a group of highly mobile drones, including MoonFall drones, to survey the South Pole before astronauts arrive; and missions testing navigation and operations in multiple cislunar orbits. Some missions will launch on Blue Origin's New Glenn, Relativity Space's Terran R, and SpaceX's Falcon 9, with in-space transportation from Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Impulse Space, and Quantum Space.
SpaceX was also selected for the Cislunar Communications Deployment Demonstration under an existing lunar logistics contract, launching communications satellites aboard a Starship to cislunar space in 2028 to help inform future lunar communications networks.
To extend surface infrastructure, NASA plans to buy commercial components for a Mini-Communications and Solar Tower, awarding Honeybee Robotics for energy storage, Redwire for power generation, and Yank Technologies for wireless power transfer. Marshall Space Flight Center will assemble and test the systems, with work expected to begin within months, and NASA anticipates a separate solicitation for fully integrated power systems in early 2027. NASA intends to release a directed call under the NextSTEP-3 B solicitation to help close architecture-driven, high-priority data gaps for Moon Base development.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- The selection of eight lander companies sets up a decade of contested lunar delivery contracts worth up to $10 billion, moving the Moon Base from planning into procurement.
- PROMISE's nuclear power is meant to let it work through long lunar nights and in permanently shadowed craters where ice is thought to be, capabilities at the core of a sustained South Pole presence.
- The transport and communications awards begin assembling the Earth-Moon logistics and connectivity network the base will depend on before the first crews arrive.
Background
The Moon Base program is NASA's effort to establish a lasting human outpost at the Moon's South Pole, building on the Artemis campaign that is to return astronauts to the Moon. Under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services model, NASA buys delivery services from private companies rather than owning the landers, and the new awards extend that approach to cargo, rovers, orbital transport, and surface power and communications. The agency has described the base as a stepping stone for the first crewed mission to Mars.
What to Watch
- Which companies win the first CLPS 2 task orders from the pool of eight.
- Whether Blue Origin's performance triggers the $140 million option on the PROMISE delivery.
- The solicitation for fully integrated lunar power systems, anticipated in early 2027.
- The late-2028 targets: the PROMISE launch and SpaceX's Starship communications demonstration.
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 12 supported.
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- SupportedThe CLPS 2 cargo lander framework has a combined maximum value of $10 billion.NASA: “The CLPS 2 framework is a 10-year, multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity master contract with a combined maximum value of $10 billion.”
- SupportedEight named companies are eligible to compete for CLPS 2 lunar delivery missions.NASA: “NASA selected eight companies for the next phase of its CLPS ( Commercial Lunar Payload Services ) initiative. The companies are eligible to compete for future lunar surface delivery missions under the new CLPS 2 contract: Blue Origin Firefly Aerospace Intuitive Machines iSpace US Lockheed Martin Space Northrop Grumman Space Systems SpaceX Voyager Technologies”
- SupportedBlue Origin will deliver the nuclear-powered PROMISE rover to the lunar South Pole using its Mark 1 lander.NASA: “NASA awarded Blue Origin a $94 million base contract, with an option period worth an additional $140 million based on performance to deliver PROMISE to the lunar South Pole. [...] Blue Origin will use its Mark 1 lander to deliver and deploy the rover”
- SupportedNASA announced the awards on Saturday at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA: “NASA announced a suite of awards and mission updates on Saturday [...] The agency shared the news at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.”
- SupportedJared Isaacman said, “We are building the Moon Base mission by mission,” and said the announcements expand nearly every part of the campaign.NASA: ““We are building the Moon Base mission by mission,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Today’s announcements expand nearly every part of that campaign”
- SupportedIsaacman said astronauts returning to the Moon will find the first Moon Base elements already waiting on the surface.NASA: “When our astronauts return to the Moon, they will arrive with the first elements of the Moon Base already waiting for them on the surface.”
- SupportedCarlos García-Galán said the program had made “incredible strides” in the eight months since Ignition.NASA: ““In the eight months since Ignition, we’ve made incredible strides in accomplishing the near impossible: establishing a permanent outpost on the lunar surface,” said Carlos García-Galán, manager, Moon Base Program.”
- SupportedNASA increased the existing CLPS 1.0 contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion; it runs through November 2028, with five more years to complete awarded deliveries through November 2033.NASA: “NASA increased the value of the current CLPS 1.0 contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion to support initial Phase One Moon Base objectives. The original CLPS contract will remain in place through November 2028, with an additional five-year period to complete awarded lunar deliveries through November 2033.”
- SupportedPROMISE is a six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover intended to land at the Moon’s South Pole and extract regolith from approximately 3 feet below the surface.NASA: “the six-wheeled rover will land at the Moon’s South Pole”
- SupportedNASA is targeting a late-2028 launch for PROMISE and planning an 18-month rover mission.NASA: “NASA is targeting late 2028 to launch PROMISE and planning an 18-month mission for the rover.”
- SupportedBlue Origin received a $94 million base contract and a $140 million performance-based option to deliver PROMISE.NASA: “NASA awarded Blue Origin a $94 million base contract, with an option period worth an additional $140 million based on performance to deliver PROMISE to the lunar South Pole.”
- SupportedNASA awarded six VADR task orders worth approximately $1.3 billion combined to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space.NASA: “The awards were given to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space to integrate and transport Moon Base cargo. [...] The task orders have a value of approximately $1.3 billion combined”
