NASA awarded a batch of contracts for developing a future Moon Base for lunar transportation services, a rover, and communications capabilities.
NASA named eight companies to its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)-2 contract to compete for future lunar delivery contracts including managing, building, and operating landers. CLPS-2 is a 10-year contract vehicle worth up to $10 billion. NASA named Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ispace-U.S., Lockheed Martin’s Space segment, Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems segment, SpaceX, and Voyager Technologies to the contract.
NASA also awarded six task orders to launch and transport infrastructure to the Moon Base, including orbital transfer vehicles. NASA awarded six task orders for its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract 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.
NASA stated that some missions will launch aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn, Relativity Space’s Terran R, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. In-space transportation spacecraft for these missions will be provided by Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Impulse Space, and Quantum Space.
Arrow Science and Technology stated its award is worth $185 million and it will use a SpaceX Falcon 9 for the mission and a Quantum Space OTV.
Impulse Space stated that it received two task orders – one will use a Falcon 9 rocket and Mira OTV, and the other is planned to use Relativity’s Terran R with Impulse Space’s Helios kick stage and lunar lander vehicle.
In addition, SpaceX will provide launch services for NASA’s Cislunar Communications Deployment Demonstration under an existing lunar logistics contract. This mission will launch communications satellites on a Starship rocket to cislunar space in 2028.
NASA also awarded Blue Origin a contract to use its Mark 1 lander to deliver NASA’s Promise rover to the Moon’s South Pole. The contract is a $94 million base contract, with an option period worth an additional $140 million. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is building the Promise rover.
The agency also awarded a number of awards to support its Mini-Communications and Solar Tower (miniCAST), which will support Moon Base activities with power and communications capabilities. Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, received an award for energy storage capability, Redwire for power generation, and Yank Technologies, Inc., for wireless power transfer.
NASA announced the awards over the weekend during its Max Power event at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“We are building the Moon Base mission by mission,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Today’s announcements expand nearly every part of that campaign, using the playbook that carried NASA through its greatest eras: fly often, learn, apply those lessons, and get better and more capable with every mission. 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.”
