RT-9: Commerce and Space Development¶

Summary. "Foster the expansion of the economic sphere beyond Earth orbit to support U.S. industry and innovation" (ADD Rev C, p. 83). ADD Rev C names six elements built on commercial contracts "designed to enable use of the systems by other parties": HLS, LCRNS, the Gateway Logistics Element, xEVA, LTV and CLPS. In them NASA "has assumed higher than usual programmatic risk". Its forward look is mostly about clarity for industry: what NASA will build, own or operate versus buy as services; published estimates of future needs such as power and bandwidth; and NASA's role in resources. It also raises "when and how to purchase data to close knowledge gaps versus soliciting entire missions". One of the nine recurring tenets.

All page numbers below are ADD Rev C, Section 3.5.9 (pp. 101–103), except in the section on the 2025 Architecture Update. Page 103's nested bullets were read from the PDF.

The assessment¶

"NASA and its partners have a clear intent to stimulate the expansion of the economic sphere" (p. 102). The architecture "seeks to expand the economic sphere across all architecture segments, explicitly aiming to build a future of economic opportunity, expanded utilization (including science), and greater commercial participation on and around the Moon and in the rest of the solar system" (p. 102).
Policy basis. Existing policy includes "semi-permanent or permanent human-scale infrastructure that enables growth in human and robotic space activities and commerce in an operationally diverse manner in multiple locations beyond LEO; U.S. space policy also directs facilitation of commercial exploration and utilization of space resources to meet national needs" (p. 102).
Where economic activity can grow. "The infrastructure, systems, and capabilities that form the bulk of the exploration segments provide the basis for economic activity beyond the agency, including in the areas of power, communications/navigation/timing, and autonomy (including artificial intelligence), and resource exploration" (p. 102).
Commercial elements. "HLS, LCRNS, GLE, xEVA, LTV, and CLPS all feature commercial contracts and partnerships designed to enable use of the systems by other parties. In these elements, NASA has assumed higher than usual programmatic risk (with a benefit of possible reduced financial risk) and, in many cases, has invested in multiple performers with the goal of generating commercial suppliers. Commercial elements, like these, will provide the means to travel to the Moon, maneuver on the surface, and communicate back to Earth — lowering the barrier for entry of potential customers and providing the potential basis for a future lunar economy" (p. 102). The element pages: HLS, LCRNS, Gateway Logistics Element, xEVA, LTV, CLPS.
Sources of value. The architecture "cultivates a culture of exploration", seeks "the scientific discoveries and capabilities that will bring continued expeditions", and "pursues resource exploration and the technologies needed to utilize those resources". It "establishes the Moon and cislunar space as a continued training ground and logistics station for exploration beyond the Moon" (p. 102).

Future considerations¶

The Sustained Lunar Evolution segment. "While the current architecture makes progress towards this tenet, the undefined Sustained Lunar Evolution segment specifically points to opportunities for increasing the economic sphere, including the following" (pp. 102–103):

"NASA has an opportunity to clarify the difference between economic development and commercial partnerships (economic development is a goal that can be achieved through commercial partnerships)". Sub-point: "the economic consequences of the architecture are of first order importance: for instance, identifying what services NASA will provide and which it will procure."
"NASA has emphasized competition in its commercial lunar procurements; however, with limited sources of commercial and other government agency revenue, some level of vertical or horizontal integration from commercial entities across multiple sub-architectures might provide new opportunities for innovative models for the future". Sub-point: "This factor is particularly relevant to the Foundational Exploration segment and even more critical for visions of the Sustained Lunar Evolution segment."
"The architecture aims to develop a sustained lunar presence and then for NASA to continue to Mars; NASA should plan to sustain such a presence and establish the role of commercial actors"

Forward clarity for industry (p. 103):

"Clarify, as far in advance as practicable, the role of NASA in future missions and elements, including defining where NASA is going to build, own, or operate capabilities and choosing where NASA intends to procure enduring services that could provide opportunities to industry partners"
"Clarify and publish expectations and estimates of future NASA needs, such as power levels or communications bandwidth; these estimates from the architecture would help industry partners position themselves to support NASA's needs"
"Clarify NASA's role in resource exploration and utilization, including working with other government agencies … to enable industry to leverage the resources of the solar system, wherever it may become economically feasible to do so"

In the Human Lunar Return and Foundational Exploration segments (p. 103):

"NASA should consider the elements within the Human Lunar Return and Foundational Exploration segments that the agency might operate and then provide additional available capacity to commercial partners to enable their activities"
"NASA, along with other government agencies, can support resource exploration to gain knowledge of the location and number of resources that might be available for exploitation and to assess their potential economic viability and contributions to the architecture; the results can feed back into the architecture to inform future use cases and elements"
"NASA should also consider how it coordinates and guides different industry and foreign partner capabilities to optimize the available funding, given the likely limited non-NASA sources of recurring revenue for lunar activities in the near to mid-term"
"NASA can work with industry to define when and how to purchase data to close knowledge gaps versus soliciting entire missions to close gaps"

The 2025 Architecture Update¶

The companion 2025 Architecture Update doesn't name the tenets. Its feature on lunar infrastructure (p. 9) presents power, logistics and C&PNT as services "akin to the utilities that serve communities on Earth". It ends with a paragraph headed "Evolving to Meet the Needs of a Lunar Economy":

"As exploration of the Moon expands, the demand for these services will grow and new providers can add capacity. While NASA is building the infrastructure that will enable the agency and its international partners to explore the Moon together, commercial entities could create demand for additional services and find opportunities to supply them (e.g., providing commercial power on the lunar surface for government or industry customers). With NASA serving as an anchor customer and validating interoperability standards, the future of lunar exploration will involve many organizations providing and utilizing infrastructure to enable science, resource extraction, and technology development." (Update, p. 9)

Two further points from the Update:

CLPS as a model. "NASA is encouraging the development of commercial lunar logistics services with its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program", and "commercial providers will be able to deliver additional supplies in larger amounts, as well as large pieces of lunar infrastructure" (p. 9).
2026. "The agency will announce new industry engagement opportunities to leverage the capabilities of the commercial sector" (p. 18).

Linking these passages to RT-9 is the wiki's doing; the Update doesn't cite the tenet. See the power, logistics and C&PNT pages: Power Systems, Logistics Systems, C&PNT Systems.

Changes since Rev C¶

Several of the six commercial elements have changed since Rev C: LTV providers were selected, and Gateway hardware is being repurposed. See each element's "Changes since Rev C" section and Elements.

Related wiki pages on the same subjects. The ADD doesn't make these links; they are the wiki's:

Buying data: the data gaps are a demand signal partners can answer. The ACR25 white paper says NASA "can acquire this partner data through data-sharing agreements, data buys, or other methods" (ACR25 data-gaps white paper, p. 2).
Resource exploration: DN-006 L and DN-007 L (water ice), and ISRU Systems.
Industry's ask in 2022: at the June 2022 objectives workshop in Houston, "industry raised the need for architectural consistency to guide investments, along with the need for a signal from NASA that it would be the anchor tenant for services that industry would provide" (Strategy and Objectives Development, PDF p. 45; Objectives). Setting it beside the Update's "anchor customer" (above) is the wiki's.

Recurring tenets · RT-2 Industry Collaboration · Sustained Lunar Evolution (its "economic opportunity" path) · Foundational Exploration

Sources¶

ADD Rev C, pp. 83, 101–103 · ACR25 data-gaps white paper, p. 2 · 2025 Architecture Update, pp. 9, 18 · Strategy and Objectives Development (2023), PDF p. 45