Route: LSITP¶
Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads: a NASA call for instruments and technology for CLPS.
LSITP was an open call to the research community: element C.28 of ROSES-2018 (NNH18ZDA001N-LSITP), for payloads that could fly soon with little more development. NASA selected 12 of 51 proposals on 27 June 2019 and announced them on 1 July 2019; a selection did not promise a flight. Later task orders put them on landers: seven on Firefly's first Blue Ghost (awarded 2021), four first on Masten's lander (its mission was cancelled; NASA moved them to Intuitive Machines and Firefly in 2024 and 2025), and LuSEE-Night, a follow-on to LuSEE built with the Department of Energy, on Firefly's far-side mission.
Calls and selections¶
- 11 September 2018, call: Amendment 25: DRAFT Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads Call for Community Comment by 9/27
- 18 October 2018, call: Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads (NNH18ZDA001N-LSITP)
- 18 October 2018, other: NASA Calls for Instruments, Technologies for Delivery to the Moon
- 1 February 2019, call: C.28 Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads (amended February 1, 2019) (NNH18ZDA001N-LSITP)
- 27 June 2019, selection: Lunar Surface Instruments and Technology Payloads: Abstracts of Selected Proposals (NNH18ZDA001N-LSITP)
- 1 July 2019, selection: NASA Selects 12 New Lunar Science, Technology Investigations (19-053)
- 8 April 2020, award: NASA Awards Contract to Deliver Science, Tech to Moon Ahead of Human Missions (20-038)
- 4 February 2021, award: NASA Selects Firefly Aerospace for Artemis Commercial Moon Delivery in 2023 (21-012)
- 7 March 2023, other: NASA, Department of Energy Join Forces on Innovative Lunar Experiment
- 14 March 2023, award: NASA Picks Firefly Aerospace for Robotic Delivery to Far Side of Moon (23-026)
- 12 September 2023, award: Firefly Awarded $18 Million NASA Contract to Provide Radio Frequency Calibration Services from Lunar Orbit
- 29 August 2024, award: NASA Awards Intuitive Machines Lunar South Pole Research Delivery (24-110)
- 18 December 2024, award: More NASA Science, Tech will Fly to Moon Aboard Future Firefly Flight (24-152)
- 29 July 2025, award: NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon (25-046)
- Program page: Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads (LSITP)
Payloads¶
12 payloads on 5 missions in the records so far.
Blue Ghost Mission 1¶
Firefly Aerospace · Blue Ghost · landed
- Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER)
- Lunar PlanetVac (LPV)
- Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI)
- Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS)
- Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC)
- Radiation Tolerant Computer System (RadPC)
- Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR)
Blue Ghost Mission 2¶
Firefly Aerospace · Blue Ghost with the Elytra orbiter · manifested
IM-4¶
Intuitive Machines · Nova-C · manifested
Blue Ghost Mission 3¶
Firefly Aerospace · Blue Ghost · manifested
Blue Ghost Mission 4¶
Firefly Aerospace · Blue Ghost with the Elytra orbiter · manifested