NASA announced awards to four companies on Tuesday to help make the agency’s Moon base a reality.
“For those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a press conference at NASA HQ.
Vroom, vroom: NASA awarded two companies a contract to build Lunar Terrain Vehicles:
- Astrolab ($219M), which will launch its FLIP rover to the lunar surface this summer;
- Lunar Outpost ($220M), which unveiled its Pegasus rover this month.
The rovers, which will be able to operate both with crew and autonomously, will each weigh about 1 metric ton. They’ll be designed to travel ~200km from where they’re dropped off, at a pace of 10km/hour.
Intuitive Machines won a $30M Phase 1 feasibility assessment award for its LTV in 2024, during a previous iteration of the lunar rover program. NASA’s Ignition event in March shifted the program to focus on less capable rovers to fit within a faster timeline. However, the company lost out on these newly announced awards.
NASA also announced three Moon Base missions will launch this year. The missions—which will be flown by Blue Origin, Astrobotic, and Intuitive Machines—were all previously announced under the CLPS program.
Delivery service: The Moon base will require NASA to deliver a lot of cargo to the Moon’s surface—and the space agency now knows who will be flying it there.
- Blue Origin’s Mark 1 Endurance lander will carry both LTVs to the surface;
- Firefly’s Elytra was selected by JPL to deliver the first fleet of MoonFall drones to the Moon.
What’s next: Carlos García-Galán, the program executive for the Moon base at NASA, also previewed what announcements to expect during future Moon base updates, including:
- Winners of “several” CLPS missions that would help build out the base, set to be announced in June.
- NASA is accepting proposals for CLPS 2.0 missions. Companies eligible for missions will be announced in late summer, or early fall.
- The space agency will also announce international partner contributions at a later date.
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