Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)¶

Summary. NASA's program for buying lunar delivery services from American companies, for science, technology and exploration payloads. In ADD Rev C it is a Transportation Systems element in both the Human Lunar Return and Foundational Exploration segments, with "15 task orders to seven different CLPS lander providers for delivery of more than 60 payloads" awarded for Human Lunar Return (ADD Rev C, p. 47). It is the element the Moon Base sources name most often: most Phase One missions fly through CLPS, and the Users Guide sets later-phase goals to raise CLPS payload capability to 5 and then 8 metric tons.

All page numbers are ADD Rev C unless noted.

NASA's description¶

"NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program offers rapid acquisition of lunar delivery services from American companies for payloads that advance science, technology, and exploration capabilities and/or empower commercial development of the Moon. Investigations and demonstrations launched on these flights will help NASA study Earth's nearest neighbor as part of the Artemis program. NASA encourages CLPS providers to deliver commercial and other partner payloads in addition to NASA payloads. NASA has awarded 15 task orders to seven different CLPS lander providers for delivery of more than 60 payloads to the lunar surface during the Human Lunar Return exploration segment. As NASA progresses to the Foundational Exploration segment, CLPS can provide lunar delivery capabilities in addition to those offered by other elements, like the Human-class Delivery Lander.

NASA plans to award additional CLPS task orders as mission and payload definition continues, continuing annual calls for new payload suites through the Payload and Research Investigations from the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) solicitation, which enables high-priority science and complements other NASA-sponsored payloads." (p. 47)

At a glance¶

From the element one-pager (p. 47), checked against the PDF.


ADD section	2.3.1 (p. 47)
Implementing program	CLPS Program; printed beneath: Science Mission Directorate
Functional mappings	Appendix B, B.3.1
Segments	Human Lunar Return, Foundational Exploration
Sub-architecture	Transportation Systems
Header image	"Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander, which performed operations on the Moon from March 2-16, 2025"

It is the only element with the Science Mission Directorate printed beneath its program (see the elements index).

In the ACR24 white papers (2024)¶

Two 2024 papers, older than Rev C, put a size on CLPS. Page numbers in this section are the papers'.

70–475 kg. The cargo paper's Table 1 lists "CLPS – Current Task Orders" at 70 – 475 kg delivered mass, and its Figure 2 marks "Current CLPS Task Order Capability" below the 500 kg line (Lunar Surface Cargo, p. 3).
"Only small-scale mobility." The mobility paper says planned near-term robotic missions, "such as those being delivered through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program — provide only small-scale mobility" (Lunar Mobility Drivers and Needs, p. 1).

Rev C's one-pager gives no mass. The context is on Transportation Systems.

In the February 2025 workshop briefings¶

Older than Rev C. The Science Mission Directorate showed the same "CLPS Overview" at both February 2025 workshops: an "Indefinite Quantity Indefinite Duration contract", "14 companies in IDIQ pool", "12 Task Orders awarded", "2 missions executed with 1 landing on the Moon", "1 active mission with another expected Q1 2025", with Firefly's Blue Ghost "on its way to the lunar surface, carrying 10 NASA scientific instruments and technology demonstrations" and Intuitive Machines' Athena, "IM's second mission to the Moon", carrying "a NASA drill and spectrometer technology demonstration" (Paths to Partnership deck, slide 17; International Partnerships deck, slide 14). For partners, the slide's benefits were "Rapid, low-cost access to the lunar surface for emerging space organizations", and partners could buy "services from CLPS vendors" directly or deliver payloads with NASA "through CLPS or Artemis" (slide 15 there).

Against later counts (the wiki's comparison; the dates differ, so these are not contradictions): Rev C's "15 task orders to seven different CLPS lander providers" (p. 47), whose header image dates Blue Ghost's surface operations to 2–16 March 2025, and NASA's CLPS page's 13 companies on contract and 17 deliveries (below).

The CLPS timeline graphic (July 2025)¶

Older than Rev C. NASA's one-page "Timeline of Past and Future CLPS Deliveries" (upload path July 2025) shows eleven deliveries on a 2024–2028 axis (CLPS timeline graphic):

Flown, with dates: Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission One ("Launched Jan. 8, 2024", "No lunar landing"), Intuitive Machines' IM-1 (landed 22 February 2024), Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 (landed 2 March 2025) and IM-2 (landed 6 March 2025).
Planned, "placed on the timeline by year only, and their order within each year is not exact": Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1, Astrobotic's Griffin Mission One, IM-3, Blue Ghost Mission 2, Draper Mission 1, IM-4 and Blue Ghost Mission 3, in that order along the axis.

The graphic prints no year beside a planned delivery. Read off the axis (the wiki's reading, on the source page), Blue Moon Mark 1 and Griffin fall in 2025, IM-3 and Blue Ghost Mission 2 in 2026, Draper and IM-4 in 2027, and Blue Ghost Mission 3 in 2028. The 2026 Moon Base sources put the first two in late 2026 (Missions and assets). The graphic names Astrobotic for Griffin, where NASA's Moon Base Phases page names Voyager Technologies (open question 78). Draper Mission 1, IM-4 and Blue Ghost Mission 3 are in no other source the wiki holds.

Functions (ADD Appendix B.3)¶

B.3.1 maps CLPS to three functions in Human Lunar Return (B.3.1.1) and five in Foundational Exploration (B.3.1.2) (p. 148). Titles are the ADD's. The last column is the wiki's join with the Users Guide's Phase 1 list (Phase 1 functional gaps).

ID	Function	HLR	FE	Moon Base Phase 1 functional gap?
FN-T-201 L	Transport a limited amount of cargo (100s of kg) from Earth to south pole region sites on the lunar surface	✓	✓	yes, transportation (cargo) group
FN-T-203 L	Transport a limited amount of cargo (100s of kg) from Earth to distributed sites outside of the south pole region on the lunar surface		✓
FN-T-205 L	Transport a limited amount of cargo (100s of kg) from Earth to the far side of the lunar surface		✓
FN-T-403 L	Enable landing on the lunar surface under all lighting conditions	✓	✓
FN-M-401 L	Unload a limited amount of cargo (100s of kg) on the lunar surface	✓	✓	yes, robotics group

Against the lunar spreadsheet. The "CLPS Provider Landers" column has the same three in HLR. In FE+ it adds FN-T-402 L, "Provide precision landing for cargo transport to the lunar surface", which B.3.1.2 doesn't have. The ADD maps that function to the Human-Class Delivery Lander and the Lunar Surface Cargo Lander (pp. 156, 158) (Lunar function allocation).

CLPS is the only element mapped to far-side cargo delivery (FN-T-205 L), and all its cargo functions are for a "limited amount", "100s of kg". B.3 maps "a moderate amount of cargo (1000s of kg)" to the Lunar Surface Cargo Lander (FN-T-202 L, FN-T-204 L), and "large asset(s)" to the Human-Class Delivery Lander (FN-T-206 L).

Gaps that mention it¶

DN-005 L (surface panoramas): "Multiple CLPS providers have taken images from the surface" (data gaps spreadsheet, DN-005 L). No technology gap names CLPS.

Changes since Rev C¶

From 2026 web pages. The Moon Base material in the next section also dates from 2026.

New counts. NASA's CLPS page: "To date, NASA has awarded 17 lunar deliveries to five CLPS vendors to carry more than 60 payloads", from "a pool of 13 eligible American companies", under contracts with "a combined maximum contract value of $2.6 billion through November 2028" (CLPS page, "CLPS Providers"; undated, fetched 1 October 2026). Rev C (December 2025) says "15 task orders to seven different CLPS lander providers" (p. 47). Neither source explains the difference between seven and five.
Cadence. "targeting up to 30 robotic landings starting in 2027" (Ignition release). The Ignition science fact sheet (24 March 2026) has "30 robotic lunar landings within three years, starting in 2027", "in support of the Moon Base" (science fact sheet, p. 2; open question 81).
Larger landers and named payloads (Ignition fact sheets). CLPS will expand "to include larger, more capable landers and rovers, with new task orders issued immediately" (Building the Moon Base fact sheet, p. 2). Near-term payloads: "MoonFall hopper drones, CADRE rover, VIPER rover and LuSEE Night" (Ignition fact sheet, p. 3). LuSEE-Night, by NASA and the Department of Energy, flies "on Firefly Aerospace's next CLPS … delivery" to the far side and is "designed to survive the harsh environment of the lunar surface at night"; Blue Origin has "a CLPS task order with an option to deliver NASA's VIPER … to the Moon's South Pole region" (science fact sheet, p. 2).
Briefed at Ignition, March 2026 (the Science Mission Directorate's deck). "NASA has selected Intuitive Machines (IM) to deliver seven NASA-sponsored payloads to the Moon's south polar region", pictured with an "IM large cargo class lander", a Honeybee Robotics rover and the Australian Space Agency's Roo-Ver (slide 15). The science fact sheet announced that selection for 24 March without naming the provider; reading the two as one selection is the wiki's. The slide gives no date or mission name, and the wiki doesn't match it to IM-3 or to Intuitive Machines' late-2028 landing. The deck also records that Blue Ghost Mission 1 "delivered 10 NASA science and technology instruments to the lunar surface in 2025" (slide 14), and announces an RFI for "'on the shelf and ready to fly' payloads to help accelerate CLPS, supporting Artemis, lunar exploration, and a permanent lunar presence by 2030" (slide 16; open question 77) (Ignition deck 4, slides 14–16).
CLPS 2.0, "a competitive follow-on" to CLPS 1.0: "an anticipated 10-year ordering period and a fifteen-year execution timeline", "targeted to be capped at $6 billion". NASA may "order turn-key delivery services or accept delivery of CLPS hardware for integration into its own missions" (Ignition page). The final RFP came out on 15 May 2026, with responses due 30 June (May 2026 release).
Task orders for the Moon Base under CLPS 1.0 (Ignition page):
- CX-2, to deliver the Lunar Terrain Vehicle to the South Pole in 2028, on landers "with proven heritage". Blue Origin won it (Lunar Terrain Vehicle).
- CS-8, "Moon Base payload deliveries" by the end of 2028, with "a performance bonus" for surviving "a full lunar night" with "a radioisotope device".
Briefed at Ignition, March 2026 (the Moon Base Program's deck). CLPS "was set up to: Enable low cost (more risk tolerant) lunar payload delivery opportunities; Incubate a new US-led industry base". "With the Moon Base directive", it will "evolve to increase: Lander payload delivery capability through Phase 3 and beyond; Mission reliability; Increased mission quantity and cadence", with "two new Requests for Task Order Proposals (RFTPs) to support Phase 1" and "a follow-on CLPS solicitation to support Phase 2&3" (slide 46). The draft RFTPs were "issued today for large payloads (500 kg) & smaller science payloads (<100 kg)", with "Task Order awards within 90 days"; a "CLPS 1.0 Draft Request for Task Plan to vendors in mid-June for CP-32 DIMPLE Delivery" was also planned (slide 48). The deck's timeline names them "Large Payload Delivery (500 kg Class) [CX-2]" and "Science Payload Delivery (150 kg Class) [CS-8]", with awards planned for 8 and 18 June 2026, and CLPS 2.0 awards for 1 September (slide 63). Slide 48's "<100 kg" and slide 63's "150 kg Class" differ (open question 83). Its mobility table lists "CLPS 1.0 Science Rovers": "NASA - VIPER", "Astrolab - FLIP", "UAE Rover – Rashid" (slide 57) (Ignition deck 2).
Four more landings for late 2028 (Astrobotic two, Firefly, Intuitive Machines; "nearly $600 million"), each carrying SCALPSS, a laser retroreflector array and LETS. NASA calls CLPS "a backbone of the Moon Base" (June 2026 release; Missions and assets).
Phase One. The Ignition release names "CLPS … deliveries and the LTV … program" as the means of Phase One ("Build, Test, Learn") (Ignition release, "Building the Moon Base").
Who runs it. The CLPS page lists a lead and a programmatic deputy at Johnson and a technical deputy at Glenn (CLPS page, "Program Contacts"). Rev C prints "CLPS Program" over "Science Mission Directorate" (p. 47); the June release names the technical deputy as the "Moon Base acting director of cargo landers". The Administrator's Directive 6 of 22 May 2026 says where it went: it consolidates "existing lunar programs and projects – including CLPS, large cargo landers, Argonaut/HLS cargo, …" under the Moon Base Program office in the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, at Johnson (workforce note). The program manager wants landers scaled from today's "500 kilogram payload capacity" to "five to eight metric tons", as reported (podcast, August 2026), the range of the Users Guide's Phase 2 and 3 goals of 5 MT and 8 MT (the wiki's comparison).

Moon Base relevance¶

The Moon Base sources name CLPS directly, more than any other element.

Phase One and "backbone." The Ignition release names "CLPS … deliveries and the LTV … program" as the means of Phase One, and the June 2026 release calls CLPS "a backbone of the Moon Base". The task orders, cadence and awards since Ignition are under Changes since Rev C (Ignition release, "Building the Moon Base"; June 2026 release).
Phase goals. The Users Guide's phase graphic sets "Increase CLPS payload mass capability to 5MT" as a Phase 2 goal and "Increase CLPS payload mass capability to 8MT" as a Phase 3 goal (Users Guide, p. 4; phase assignment as on Phases, checked against the PDF).
Why phased. "Applying lessons learned from the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program, NASA will use bulk buys and multiple awards to enable cost savings in long lead parts purchases, reassurance of capital investments, and diffusion of base costs." And: "Near-term flights aboard CLPS landers and other commercial missions during phase one will prove these technologies in space" (Users Guide, p. 6).
Phase One missions. The Moon Base Phases page says four Phase One landers are "Organized through NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative": Blue Origin's Blue Moon MK1 "Endurance", Voyager's Griffin-1, Intuitive Machines' IM-3 and Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 2. VIPER arrives "through NASA's CLPS … initiative" on the second Blue Moon MK1 (Moon Base Phases, under each mission's heading). The lunar terrain vehicles "will be delivered to the lunar surface through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative" (wheel challenge article). See Missions and assets.
Supply chain. "Recurring deliveries under NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative will play a vital role in building a dependable lunar supply chain" (Moon Base update, Aug 2026). "NASA is partnering with American industry through the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative to deliver a steady cadence of robotic missions to the lunar South Pole region in support of Moon Base development" (Moon Base encyclopedia, "Did You Know?").
Science payloads. The three PRISM suites selected in September 2026 (LEMS-SP, GIMLI, DISCO) "will fly to the lunar surface using the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative as part of the agency's Moon Base Program". "NASA's CLPS initiative supports the Moon Base Program" (PRISM release). No lander, date or phase is given. The ADD already expects "annual calls for new payload suites through" PRISM for CLPS (p. 47; above).

The ADD calls CLPS a "program"; the Moon Base web pages call it an "initiative". Both name the same thing.

Shared function IDs (the wiki's join). Two of CLPS's five ADD functions, FN-T-201 L (cargo to the South Pole) and FN-M-401 L (unloading 100s of kg), are on the Users Guide's list of Phase 1 functional gaps (above). Neither is in the ADD's list of unallocated functions (B.5). The guide doesn't say which half of its definition applies to them (open question 65).

Elements · Transportation Systems · Human-Class Delivery Lander · Lunar Surface Cargo Lander · Moon Base missions and assets · Moon Base phases

Sources¶

ADD Rev C, pp. 47, 148, 156, 158 · Users Guide, pp. 4, 6, 8–10 · Lunar objective decomposition, allocation sheets · Moon Base Phases · Moon Base encyclopedia entry · Moon Base update, Aug 2026 · Wheel challenge article · PRISM release, Sep 2026 · CLPS page · Ignition page · Ignition release · May 2026 release · June 2026 release · Data gaps spreadsheet, DN-005 L · Lunar Surface Cargo, p. 3 · Lunar Mobility Drivers and Needs, p. 1 · Ignition deck 4, slides 14–16 · CLPS timeline graphic, Jul 2025