NASA has announced a new package of contracts and missions for building a permanent base on the Moon. The plans include commercial cargo deliveries, a nuclear rover for the south pole, orbital transportation services, and energy and communications infrastructure. The news was presented at the MAX POWER aerospace exhibition at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“We are building the lunar base mission by mission,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said. According to him, by the time astronauts return to the Moon, the first elements of the base will already be waiting for them on the surface. Moon Base program head Carlos Garcia-Galan said that during the eight months since the initiative began, the agency had brought separate developments together into a more unified program and accelerated the awarding of contracts.
Eight companies will deliver cargo
In the next stage of the CLPS initiative for commercial lunar cargo deliveries, NASA selected eight companies that will be eligible to compete for future missions. They are Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, iSpace US, Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems, SpaceX, and Voyager Technologies.
The companies will be able to operate, build, and fly vehicles for transporting scientific, technological, and infrastructure cargo to the Moon. The new CLPS 2 contract has a term of 10 years and a maximum total value of $10 billion. Meanwhile, NASA increased the ceiling of the current CLPS 1.0 contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion. It will remain in effect until November 2028, while deliveries under missions that have already been awarded may continue until November 2033.
The nuclear PROMISE rover is to explore the south pole
NASA is also beginning development of the six-wheeled PROMISE rover – short for Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration. It will explore the surface and subsurface around the Moon’s south pole, assess available resources, and collect data on future landing sites and infrastructure.
Nuclear power will allow the rover to operate during the long lunar nights and in permanently shadowed regions where ice may be present. PROMISE will be equipped with a probe for taking regolith samples – lunar dust and soil – at a depth of about one meter. It will also carry spectrometers, temperature and radiation sensors, cameras, and a new radiation-hardened computing system.
The mission will be led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The rover will use spare flight components and engineering models developed for the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. The launch is scheduled for late 2028, and the planned mission duration is 18 months. Blue Origin received a $94 million base contract to deliver and deploy PROMISE using the Mark 1 vehicle. The contract’s option period is worth an additional $140 million depending on performance.
A new transportation route between Earth and the Moon
NASA awarded six orders for launch and orbital transportation demonstrations to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space. Their total value is approximately $1.3 billion. The missions will test communications and navigation along the route from low Earth orbit to the Moon, as well as the ability of orbital transfer vehicles to deliver lunar spacecraft to the required orbit.
Among the planned missions is CAPSTONE 02, which will test rendezvous, navigation, and communications maneuvers around the Moon. Other flights will use mobile drones to survey the south pole before astronauts arrive. Some of the missions will be carried out using New Glenn, Terran R, and Falcon 9 rockets, while the transfer vehicles will be provided by Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Impulse Space, and Quantum Space.
In 2028, SpaceX is expected to launch communications satellites into cislunar space aboard Starship. The demonstration is intended to support the development of a future communications network linking astronauts, ground centers, and the lunar base. NASA is also planning miniCAST – a system that will combine solar panels, batteries, and wireless power transmission. A separate procedure for fully integrated power systems is expected in early 2027.
Sources: nasa.gov