The China Mail - NASA Awards $10B Lunar Contract Framework to SpaceX, Blue Origin

NASA announced Saturday that SpaceX and Blue Origin are among eight aerospace companies eligible to compete for up to $10 billion in contracts to deliver infrastructure for a permanent base on the Moon. The announcement was made at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show held at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The expansion of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program establishes a new framework with a maximum combined value of $10 billion over 10 years. Agency officials clarified that this figure represents a ceiling for future task orders rather than money already awarded to participating firms.

Alongside SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, and Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, 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. These companies will be tasked with delivering scientific equipment, technology, and infrastructure to the Moon’s south pole.

"We are building the Moon Base mission by mission," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement regarding the initiative. "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."

In addition to the new framework, NASA increased 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.

Blue Origin secured 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 vehicle, formally named the Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration, is designed to examine the lunar surface and subsurface, including regions believed to harbor water ice that could support sustained human presence.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will construct the rover using spare flight components and engineering test models from its Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers, a strategy the agency states will reduce development costs. Blue Origin will utilize its Mark 1 lunar lander for the delivery, with NASA targeting a late-2028 launch for the 18-month mission.

The agency also awarded six transportation task orders worth approximately $1.3 billion combined to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space. These missions will test technologies for moving cargo between Earth and the Moon, including navigation systems and robotic drones intended to scout potential landing areas.

NASA selected SpaceX under an existing lunar logistics contract to deploy communications satellites aboard its Starship rocket into the region between Earth and the Moon in 2028. This demonstration aims to help develop communications networks connecting astronauts, mission controllers, and future lunar infrastructure.

Awards were also announced for Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, Redwire, and Yank Technologies for components of a planned lunar power and communications tower. The system will combine solar power and wireless power transfer to support operations on the Moon’s surface.

NASA stated that these projects are intended to establish a sustained American presence on the Moon’s south pole, with commercial partners delivering necessary equipment and infrastructure before astronauts arrive. The agency ultimately hopes to use its lunar operations as a foundation for crewed missions to Mars in the future.

L.Johnson--ThChM