NASA Unveils New Lunar Base Plan, Awards Contracts to SpaceX, Blue Origin for Nuclear Rover and Cargo Missions

IT Home On November 8, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced its latest plans on Saturday local time, aimed at expanding the exploration, scientific research, and infrastructure construction capabilities of the lunar base project. NASA is partnering with domestic American companies, planning to achieve long-term residency at the lunar south pole; this funding will be used to advance commercial robotic cargo missions, a nuclear-powered lunar rover named PROMISE, launch and orbital transfer services, as well as lunar surface infrastructure construction.

Lunar base cargo lander

First, let's look at the lunar base cargo lander; NASA selected eight companies to enter the next phase of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). These companies will be eligible to compete for subsequent lunar delivery missions under the new CLPS 2 contract framework:

• Blue Origin

• Firefly Aerospace

• Intuitive Machines

• ispace US branch (ispace-U.S.）

• Lockheed Martin Space

• Northrop Grumman Space Systems

• SpaceX

• Voyager Technologies

Under the CLPS 2 framework, the above enterprises will provide lunar cargo services, including the management, manufacturing, and operation of landers, responsible for delivering NASA's scientific research equipment, technology validation payloads, and infrastructure equipment to the Moon.

CLPS 2 is an irregular delivery / non-quantitative total contract for a period of 10 years, with multiple awards, The total contract amount ceiling is 10000000000 USD (IT Home Note: The current exchange rate is approximately equivalent to 66908000000 RMB). At the same time, NASA will [reduce] the current CLPS 1.0 contract amount from 2600000000 USD (Equivalent to approximately 17396000000 yuan RMB at the current exchange rate) Upwardly adjusted to 4200000000 USD (Equivalent to approximately 28101000000 yuan RMB at the current exchange rate), ensuring the landing of Phase I goals for the lunar base. The original CLPS contract is valid until November 2028, with an additional 5-year extension period, and the already awarded lunar delivery missions can be completed before November 2033.

Nuclear-powered lunar rover

NASA also announced the advancement of PROMISE nuclear-powered lunar rover project development. This six-wheeled lunar rover carries scientific instruments and technology verification equipment, will land at the lunar south pole, and will be used to survey the lunar surface and underground strata, evaluate resource potential, and provide data for landing site selection, subsequent infrastructure construction, and exploration activities. This nuclear-powered lunar rover can work during the long lunar nights and inside permanently shadowed craters, which are believed to contain water ice and are crucial for long-term human lunar stays.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which belongs to the California Institute of Technology and is located in Southern California, will be responsible for the mission management and the development of the lunar rover. This rover extensively reuses spare flight components and engineering test prototypes from the “Curiosity” and “Perseverance” Mars rovers. By relying on proven hardware, software, and rover operation schemes, costs can be significantly reduced, and the integration and testing cycle of this complex PROMISE lunar rover can be shortened. NASA has already completed the hardware lunar environment adaptation assessment, confirming that it can withstand the extreme and harsh environment of the lunar south pole.

PROMISE lunar rover is equipped with drilling equipment, capable of excavating lunar soil (lunar dust), to detect water ice and other resources at a depth of about 1 meter underground; at the same time, it carries a spectrometer to analyze the chemical composition, temperature, and radiation of lunar surface materials, as well as a visible light camera. It will also verify the new generation of high-performance radiation-resistant spaceborne computing systems, advanced autonomous sensing sensors, and algorithms. NASA plans to launch PROMISE at the end of 2028, with a design task cycle of 18 months.

NASA awarded Blue Origin a contract with a base amount of 94000000 USD (equivalent to approximately 629000000 RMB at the current exchange rate) with additional performance incentive options, up to an extra 140000000 USD (Equivalent to approximately 937,000,000 yuan at the current exchange rate), with Blue Origin responsible for delivering PROMISE to the lunar south pole. This award is an expansion of the May 2026 mission order, the original order content being to transport two lunar rovers to the Moon. Blue Origin will use its Mark 1 lander to deploy the lunar rover under the Phase I framework of the lunar base.

Launch and orbital transportation projects

Establishing a lunar base requires a stable and reliable Earth-Moon transportation network. Orbital Transfer Vehicles (OTV) are equivalent to long-haul space freight trucks, responsible for transporting large payloads in deep space; lunar landers then complete the final leg of delivery, safely bringing supplies, equipment, and infrastructure to the lunar surface.

To verify relevant capabilities, NASA, under the Venture Aerospace Delivery and Rideshare (VADR) framework, issued six task orders awarded to Arrowhead Technologies, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space to complete the integration and deep space transport of lunar base cargo.

Three types of mission modes allow NASA to flexibly arrange research and technology verification payloads, ready for launch once prepared. The first type of mission aims to reduce the risks of future long-term manned lunar flights, verifying communication and navigation solutions during the Earth-Moon transfer, as well as the capability of orbital transfer vehicles to deliver CLPS landers into target orbits. This type of mission will send the CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft into deep space to conduct close-proximity maneuvering, navigation, and communication tests near the Moon.

The second category of missions will deploy a batch of high-mobility unmanned aerial vehicles to survey the lunar south pole in advance, paving the way for astronaut visits, ensuring safer manned exploration and more thorough planning, while simultaneously verifying advanced robotic technologies. These include the Moonfall UAV from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which can reach areas inaccessible to traditional lunar rovers, while also transporting other lunar base equipment to support the first phase objectives.

The third category of missions is used to reduce risks for subsequent missions, testing navigation technologies, and conducting multi-orbit operation verifications in lunar orbits between the Earth and the Moon, demonstrating commercial orbital transfer solutions, and increasing the transport capacity for subsequent landers to deliver cargo to the lunar surface.

The total value of this batch of task orders is approximately 1300000000 USD (equivalent to approximately 8698000000 RMB at the current exchange rate), belonging to a 10-year VADR irregular delivery / non-quantitative contract, with a total contract amount upper limit of 5000000000 USD (equivalent to approximately 33454000000 RMB at the current exchange rate).The VADR contract is managed by the NASA Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center and is part of the Commercial Lunar Access program. By bundling the procurement of multiple launch and space transportation services, it can bring stable mission opportunities to the aerospace industry and provide NASA with a more diverse range of commercial technology options in future lunar exploration.

Some missions will be launched by Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets, Relativity Space’s R rockets, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets; space transportation vehicles will be provided by Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Impulse Space, and Quanterix.

Lunar Architecture and Infrastructure

To enhance lunar surface infrastructure capabilities, NASA plans to procure commercial components to build mini Communication and Solar Towers (miniCAST), which include solar arrays, energy storage batteries, and wireless power transmission hardware. NASA has awarded contracts: Bee Robotics under Blue Origin is responsible for energy storage equipment, Ridwell is responsible for power generation modules, and Yank Technologies is responsible for wireless power transmission technology, jointly supporting the miniCAST project.

miniCAST integrates power supply and communication functions, serving various subsequent activities of the lunar base. The equipment will first be assembled and tested by engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, before being sent to the lunar surface.

NASA expects the relevant work to start within months; at this stage, discrete components will be developed first, and the complete integrated system will not be delivered for now. NASA also plans to issue a separate tender in early 2027 to procure a complete integrated power system.

NASA is preparing to issue a targeted solicitation in the “NextSTEP-3 B” to fill high-priority data gaps in the development of lunar base architecture. This project will provide critical data support for NASA to plan subsequent missions, control risks, and support the technology and infrastructure required for long-term operations at the lunar south pole, in forms that may include small spacecraft missions, payloads on lunar base launch missions, or the procurement of exploration data collected by commercial partners.

In this golden age of innovation and exploration, Artemis program astronauts will perform missions of progressively increasing difficulty to the lunar south pole, exploring regions on the Moon that have never been stepped upon. Besides driving economic development and pushing scientific discoveries, the lunar exploration project will also establish long-term human habitation bases on the lunar surface, and use this as a foundation to pave the way for the first manned Mars mission.