Lunar Surface Cargo Lander¶
Summary. A cargo lander for "moderate amounts of cargo", sized between CLPS and the much larger Human-Class Delivery Lander. NASA targets it at "logistics, utilization, power, communications, and other payloads" (ADD Rev C, p. 59). It is a Transportation Systems element in the Foundational Exploration segment, added in Rev B, with the design still being iterated.
All page numbers are ADD Rev C unless noted.
NASA's description¶
"The lunar surface cargo lander delivers assets to the Moon, much like the HDL or CLPS elements. However, the anticipated capability of the element is much smaller than HDL, delivering moderate amounts of cargo to the lunar surface.
NASA targets the lunar surface cargo lander for delivery of logistics, utilization, power, communications, and other payloads. The element provides all the services necessary to maintain its cargo from launch vehicle integration through landing on the lunar surface and until cargo offloading or independent operations." (p. 59)
The ADD gives no mass figure for "moderate amounts". Its glossary's quantity descriptors set a "Moderate Amount" of cargo transported to the lunar surface at "1000s of kg", but say they "define terms used in the objective decomposition" (p. 304), not element descriptions. So the wiki doesn't read p. 304 as this element's capacity (Glossary; open question 58).
At a glance¶
From the element one-pager (p. 59).
| ADD section | 2.3.9 (p. 59; numbered 2.3.8 in the Section 2.3 table, p. 46) |
| Implementing program | Human Landing System Program; printed beneath: Moon to Mars Program Office |
| Functional mappings | Appendix B, B.3.9 |
| Segments | Foundational Exploration only |
| Sub-architecture | Transportation Systems |
| Added in | Rev B (elements index) |
| Header image | "Rendering of a government reference concept for the lunar surface cargo lander element. NASA and its partners are iterating on a final design for implementation of this element. (Credit: NASA)" |
See Human-Class Delivery Lander for how the ADD sizes the three delivery elements against each other.
In the ACR24 white papers (2024)¶
The element arrived in Revision B (2024 review), which "Added the following elements and their functional mappings: initial surface habitat and lunar surface cargo lander" (ADD Rev C, p. 3). Earlier that year, the 2024 paper "Lunar Surface Cargo" set out the case for more cargo capacity. Page numbers below are the paper's.
- The gap. "a gap in cargo lander delivery has been identified between 500 kg and 12,000 kg, for which significant demand exists" (p. 3). CLPS task orders then covered 70–475 kg, and "HDL is the only lander currently expressed in the architecture that can deliver beyond 500 kg" (pp. 3, 6).
- A reference mission for Revision B. "NASA has developed a conceptual reference mission for cargo lander delivery that will be added to the ADD in revision B" (p. 1). Its lander "Provides all services necessary to maintain cargo from in-space transit through landing on the lunar surface until the cargo is either offloaded from the lander or in an operational state" (p. 1), wording close to this element's description above.
The wiki doesn't treat the paper as the specification of this element. The paper speaks of a reference mission, not an element; Rev C's Foundational Exploration reference missions include none for cargo delivery; and Rev C gives the element no mass, so the 500–12,000 kg range is not its capacity (open question 45). The context is on Transportation Systems.
In the executive overviews (2023 and 2024)¶
Both are older than Rev C; page numbers are their PDF pages.
- Initiated in 2023. NASA put "a lunar surface cargo lander element, which may deliver supplies and equipment to the Moon" through element initiation in 2023 (2023 overview, PDF p. 10), a year before Rev B added it (Elements).
- The 2024 description. "The lunar surface cargo lander element will deliver cargo to the lunar surface, with a payload capacity between that of Commercial Lunar Payload Services landers and Human-Class Delivery Landers. Small cargo landers could transport logistics, utilization payloads, power systems, communications systems, and more" (2024 overview, PDF p. 7). The image is labeled "Government Reference Concept"; the elements spread's tagline is "Logistics, Delivered" (PDF p. 25).
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Its functions in 2024, "Functions Fulfilled by the Lunar Surface Cargo Lander During the Foundational Exploration Segment", four with no others (PDF p. 7):
ID Title, as printed in 2024 FN-T-202 L "Transport a moderate amount of cargo (1000s of kg) from Earth to south pole region sites on the lunar surface" FN-T-204 L "Transport a moderate amount of cargo (1000s of kg) from Earth to distributed sites outside of the south pole region on the lunar surface" FN-T-402 L "Provide precision landing for cargo transport to the lunar surface" FN-T-403 L "Enable landing on the lunar surface under all lighting conditions"
What changed by Rev C (the wiki's comparison):
- The same four. The December 2025 decomposition sheet allocates exactly these four to the element (Lunar function allocation), and ADD Appendix B.2.2 prints the same titles (Lunar functions).
- "1000s of kg" is the only size. Neither overview, nor the one-pager, gives a capacity. The "moderate amount of cargo (1000s of kg)" in two of its function titles is the nearest thing to one in the ADD.
- FN-T-202 L is a Moon Base functional gap. It is on the Users Guide's Phase 1 cargo list (Phase 1 functional gaps). The join is the wiki's; the guide names no lander (below).
In the February 2025 workshop briefing¶
NASA's "Architecture Updates" deck for both February 2025 workshops, ten months before Rev C, introduced the element as "Architecture Elements Approved at ACR24" with one line:
"Dedicated cargo lander to deliver logistics, utilization, small exploration assets, and other cargo to the Moon; payload capacity on the order of 2 tons" (Architecture Updates deck, slide 13)
Its "Primary Functions Met by Element" are the 2024 overview's four, with the same titles. This is the only capacity any source gives the element (all source texts searched, including the 2024–2025 workshop decks not yet written up; the February 2025 logistics briefing's capacity table sizes CLPS, HDL, ESA's Argonaut and a JAXA lander, not this element). "Tons" is unqualified on the slide. The industry and academia copy has the same slide (copy, slide 13).
What changed by Rev C (the wiki's comparison): Rev C's one-pager drops the figure and says only "moderate amounts of cargo" (p. 59). Rev C doesn't say whether the 2-ton figure still holds; silence is not a change. The figure sits inside the glossary's "Moderate Amount" (1000s of kg) and the 2024 cargo paper's 500–12,000 kg gap, but the wiki doesn't take either as the element's capacity (open question 58; open question 45). Whether it ties the element to the Users Guide's two-ton Phase 1 target is open question 86.
Functions (ADD Appendix B.3)¶
B.3.9.1 maps the same four functions, all in Foundational Exploration (p. 158; PDF checked). Titles are the ADD's.
| ID | Function | Moon Base Phase 1 functional gap? |
|---|---|---|
| FN-T-202 L | Transport a moderate amount of cargo (1000s of kg) from Earth to south pole region sites on the lunar surface | yes, transportation (cargo) group |
| FN-T-204 L | Transport a moderate amount of cargo (1000s of kg) from Earth to distributed sites outside of the south pole region on the lunar surface | |
| FN-T-402 L | Provide precision landing for cargo transport to the lunar surface | |
| FN-T-403 L | Enable landing on the lunar surface under all lighting conditions |
- A heading slip. The table under "B.3.9 Lunar Surface Cargo Lander" is headed "Human-Class Delivery Lander" (p. 158). Its four functions are this element's in the 2024 overview and the sheet, not the HDL's five (p. 156), so the wiki reads the heading as a slip (open question 21).
- Only this element carries 1000s of kg. It is the only element mapped to "a moderate amount of cargo (1000s of kg)" from Earth.
- Unloading that cargo is mapped to nothing. FN-M-402 L, "Unload a moderate amount of cargo (1000s of kg) on the lunar surface", is in no ADD table for Foundational Exploration; the sheet marks it Unallocated (Lunar function allocation; open question 64).
Gaps that mention it¶
None by name (search of both spreadsheets).
Changes since Rev C¶
None: no source newer than Rev C says anything new about this element. Searched by name across all the wiki's sources, it appears after December 2025 only in the text of the thumbnails of ADD Rev C pages on the 2026 workshops' "Product Revitalization" slide (January 2026 deck, slide 6; February 2026 deck, slides 6 and 22). The Administrator's Directive 6 of 22 May 2026 consolidates "large cargo landers, Argonaut/HLS cargo" into the Moon Base Program without naming this element (workforce note).
Moon Base relevance¶
Not established by the sources so far. The Users Guide's Phase 1 cargo-transportation group covers "Systems that convey cargo between Earth and the Moon (e.g., launch vehicles, transportation systems, cargo landers)", with the target "Deployment of landers with two metric ton cargo delivery capability to the lunar South Pole region" (Users Guide, p. 10). It names no lander, and the ADD gives this element no capacity to compare, so the wiki doesn't tie the two.
Related pages¶
Elements · Transportation Systems · Human-Class Delivery Lander · CLPS · Phase 1 functional gaps · Foundational Exploration · Lunar Surface Cargo
Sources¶
ADD Rev C, pp. 3, 46, 59, 122, 156, 158, 304 · Users Guide, p. 10 · Lunar Surface Cargo, pp. 1, 3, 6 · 2023 executive overview, PDF p. 10 · 2024 executive overview, PDF pp. 7, 25 · Lunar objective decomposition, allocation sheet · Architecture Updates deck, February 2025, slide 13 · January 2026 workshop deck, slide 6 · February 2026 workshop deck, slides 6, 22 · Administrator's workforce note, 22 May 2026