NASA Expands Moon Base Campaign With $10 Billion Lander Framework and Nuclear Rover

NASA announced a wide-ranging set of awards and mission updates on Saturday to build out its Moon Base program, including a new $10 billion cargo lander contract framework, a nuclear-powered South Pole rover, and launch and orbital transfer services. The agency said the investments will establish the first elements of a sustained presence at the Moon's South Pole ahead of crewed arrivals.

NASA shared the news at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The announcements come eight months after the program milestone referred to as Ignition, which Moon Base Program manager Carlos García-Galán said marked the start of an effort to establish a permanent lunar outpost.

"We are building the Moon Base mission by mission," said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. "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." García-Galán said the agency has consolidated multiple efforts into a streamlined, iterative program and has "taken action, awarding new contracts and forging new partnerships to accelerate development."

For cargo delivery, NASA selected eight companies to compete under the new CLPS 2 contract: Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, iSpace US, Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems, SpaceX, and Voyager Technologies. CLPS 2 is a 10-year, multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity master contract with a combined maximum value of $10 billion. NASA also increased the current CLPS 1.0 contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion to support initial Phase One objectives. The original contract runs through November 2028, with an additional five-year period to complete deliveries through November 2033.

NASA is also proceeding with PROMISE, the Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration. The six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover will land at the South Pole to characterize the surface and subsurface, assess resource potential, and support landing site selection. It can operate during long lunar nights and within permanently shadowed regions thought to harbor ice. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory will manage the mission and build the rover using spare flight components and engineering test models from the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers. PROMISE will carry a drill capable of extracting regolith from about 3 feet below the surface, spectrometers, temperature and radiation sensors, visible-light cameras, and will demonstrate NASA's High Performance Spaceflight Computing. NASA is targeting a late 2028 launch for the 18-month mission. The agency awarded Blue Origin a $94 million base contract, with a $140 million performance option, to deliver PROMISE using its Mark 1 lander.

NASA additionally awarded six task orders under its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare launch services contract to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space, worth approximately $1.3 billion combined. Three mission types will reduce risks for human spaceflight, survey the South Pole using MoonFall drones, and test navigation technologies across cislunar orbits. One mission will deliver the CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft to deep space. The VADR contract has a maximum total value of $5 billion. Some missions will launch aboard Blue Origin's New Glenn, Relativity Space's Terran R, and SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets.

NASA said the announcements expand nearly every part of its Moon Base campaign and are intended to give industry a more predictable set of mission opportunities while broadening access to commercial capabilities for lunar exploration.

The agency is targeting a late 2028 launch for PROMISE, with the CLPS 1.0 deliveries continuing through November 2033 and CLPS 2 competitions open to the selected companies for future surface missions.