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NASA has selected three commercial space companies to carry out four new lunar missions in late 2028, awarding contracts worth nearly $600 million as part of its effort to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon.
The missions will be conducted by Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which will transport scientific instruments and technology to the lunar surface in support of the agency’s expanding Moon exploration program.
“These new awards to our commercial partners, totaling nearly $600 million to land more missions on the Moon with science payloads, demonstrate our commitment to accelerating our effort to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface, and give us more opportunity to develop the skills we need to prosper there,” said Lori Glaze, associate administrator for NASA’s Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate.
Under the contracts, Astrobotic received $297.9 million to conduct two lunar deliveries, while Firefly Aerospace was awarded $144.2 million and Intuitive Machines secured $148.3 million for one mission each.
The four missions will use upgraded versions of lunar landers that have already flown on previous missions, enabling NASA to increase the pace of exploration while testing technologies needed for future human operations on the Moon.
“We’re building a proving ground for Moon Base operations,” said Ryan Stephan, NASA’s acting director of cargo landers for the Moon Base program. “Accelerating our Moon mission ordering cadence and launch opportunities enable us to move quickly to learn, iterate, and improve.”
NASA currently has 17 commercial lunar surface deliveries planned through multiple providers as it expands its lunar exploration campaign.
Alongside the new contracts, the agency announced additional opportunities for U.S. industry to contribute to future lunar infrastructure. Among the proposals under consideration is the PROMISE (Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration) mission, a hybrid engineering rover based on technologies developed for the Mars Perseverance and Curiosity rovers.
If approved, PROMISE would explore the Moon’s surface and subsurface while searching for resources that could support future human exploration.
NASA also plans to seek proposals for new lunar landers to deliver power and avionics technology demonstrations, additional scientific payloads and a South Pole optical imaging system. The agency further intends to solicit technology demonstration projects and develop a lunar communication and navigation relay network to improve connectivity between lunar infrastructure and Earth.
The new contracts mark another significant step in NASA’s strategy of partnering with commercial companies to support sustained exploration and eventual long-term habitation of the Moon.
