NASA outlines $15 billion for Moon base program

By Dean Murray

NASA has outlined more than $15 billion in potential contracts and funding for its Moon base program.

The awards come as the US space agency accelerates plans for a permanent base at the lunar south pole.

In an announcement on Saturday, Nov. 7, NASA said it had selected eight companies, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, for the next phase of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, under a 10-year framework with a combined maximum value of $10 billion.

They will compete to build and operate landers carrying NASA science, technology and infrastructure to the lunar surface.

NASA also increased the value of its existing Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion, while awarding a further $1.3 billion for launch and in-space transportation services under its VADR contract.

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The agency also announced that it was recruiting a new generation of astronauts to support its plans to return humans to the Moon, establish the Moon Base and eventually send crewed missions to Mars.

Applications are open to US citizens, with candidates required to have a master’s degree in a relevant scientific or technical field, or an accepted equivalent qualification, and at least three years of relevant professional experience.

“We are building the Moon Base mission by mission,” said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman. “Today’s announcements expand nearly every part of that campaign, using the playbook that carried NASA through its greatest eras: fly often, learn, apply those lessons, and get more better and more capable with every mission. 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.”

The contract awards include a $94 million deal for Blue Origin to deliver PROMISE, a nuclear-powered rover designed to operate through long lunar nights. The contract includes an option worth a further $140 million.

The rover, built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory using spare components from its Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers, will search for ice and other resources beneath the Moon’s south pole.

NASA is targeting a late-2028 launch for the rover, whose findings will help assess resources needed to support a permanent Moon base.