NASA announced that its new PROMISE rover will launch aboard a Blue Origin lander and reach the Moon’s south pole in late 2028. NASA announced Saturday that Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and six other aerospace companies are eligible to compete for up to $10 billion in lunar delivery contracts as the agency advances its plans to establish a permanent base on the Moon. The announcement, made at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, expands NASA’s commercial lunar program, bringing together private companies to deliver scientific equipment, technology and infrastructure to the moon’s south pole. The new Commercial Lunar Payload Services framework has a maximum combined value of $10 billion over 10 years, and the figure represents a cap on future task orders, not money already awarded to participating companies. VIRGIN GALACTIC PRESENTS NEW APEIRON SPACECRAFT, TARGET OF RETURN OF COMMERCIAL SPACE FLIGHT IN 2027 An animation shows a rover traveling across the lunar surface. NASA on Saturday announced plans to develop a nuclear-powered vehicle to explore near the Moon’s south pole. (NASA/Unknown)Along with SpaceX and Blue Origin, NASA selected Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, iSpace US, Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems and Voyager Technologies to compete for future lunar delivery missions. “We are building the lunar base mission by mission,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement. “When our astronauts return to the Moon, they will arrive with the first elements of the lunar base already waiting for them on the surface.” the maximum value of its existing CLPS contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion to support the initial phase of its lunar base plans. JEFF BEZOS REVEALS HIS VISION FOR NEXT AMERICAN FRONTIER: FROM AI TO THE MOON An artist’s rendering shows NASA’s planned lunar base near the lunar south pole. The agency on Saturday announced new contracts to support a sustained human presence on the Moon. (NASA / Unknown)Beyond the new contracting framework, Blue Origin was awarded a separate $94 million base contract to deliver NASA’s nuclear-powered PROMISE rover to the lunar South Pole, with an additional $140 million available through a performance-based option. The six-wheeled rover, formally called the “Polar Rover for In Situ Observation, Mapping and Exploration,” will examine the lunar surface and subsurface, including regions believed to host water ice that could help support a human presence. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will build the rover using spare flight components and engineering test models from its Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers, an approach the agency says will reduce development costs. (NASA)Blue Origin will use its Mark 1 lunar lander to deliver the rover, and NASA is targeting a launch in late 2028 for an 18-month mission. The agency also awarded six transportation task orders worth about $1.3 billion combined to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin and Impulse Space. Those missions will test technologies for moving cargo between Earth and the Moon, including navigation systems and robotic drones intended to explore potential landing areas. lunar logistics contract to deploy communications satellites aboard its Starship rocket in the region between Earth and the Moon in 2028. Ticker Security Last change Change % FLY FIREFLY AEROSPACE INC 20.76 +5.58 +36.80% LMT LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. 567.08 -9.08 -1.58% LUNR INTUITIVE MACHINES INC 10.47 +1.85 +21.46% NOC NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP. 525.01 -0.24 -0.05% RDW REDWIRE CORP 7.21 +1.02 +16.48% SPCX SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP. 134.27 +10.65 +8.62% VOYG VOYAGER TECHNOLOGIES INC. 23.98 +3.65 +17.95% The demonstration aims to help NASA develop communications networks that connect astronauts, mission controllers and future lunar infrastructure. NASA also announced awards to Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, Redwire and Yank Technologies for components of a planned lunar power and communications tower. delivering the necessary equipment and infrastructure before the arrival of the astronauts. Ultimately, the agency hopes to use its lunar operations as a base for manned missions to Mars one day.
