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NASA Awards More Moon Base Science, Previews New Opportunities

Page: NASA news release RELEASE26-053 by Lauren E. Low, NASA Headquarters, 30 June 2026. https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-more-moon-base-science-previews-new-opportunities/. Fetched 2026-10-01T18:39:08Z. File: sources/moon-base/nasa-gov-news-release-nasa-awards-more-moon-base-science-previews-new-opportunities.md. An editor's note says it "was updated on June 30, 2026, to clarify the engineering development version for the PROMISE rover".

Summary. NASA selected Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines "to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency's Moon Base Program", for "nearly $600 million" under CLPS. Each delivery carries the same three flight-proven payloads (SCALPSS, a laser retroreflector array, and a radiation spectrometer, LETS), to build "a global network of environmental data and location markers". The release also previews PROMISE, a rover derived from the Mars rovers, and four coming solicitations. This is the June 30 entry in the encyclopedia's history.

Key points

  • Awards. "Astrobotic is awarded $297.9 million total for two deliveries, as well as Firefly Aerospace $144.2 million and Intuitive Machines $148.3 million for one delivery each as part of the agency's CLPS … initiative, a backbone of the Moon Base." "Each will use updated versions of already-flown lander designs". The companies also provide "an assessment of a similar previous lunar lander" and incorporate "lessons learned".

  • Payloads on every delivery ("Each delivery will carry three NASA payloads"):

    • SCALPSS (Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Studies): four cameras using "stereo photogrammetry to produce a 3D view of the impact of an engine's exhaust plume on lunar dust". Data "from a variety of engine sizes, propellants, and landing locations" will feed "models to predict lunar dust erosion and ejecta characteristics", which matters "as bigger, heavier spacecraft and hardware are delivered to the Moon near each other".
    • LRA (Laser Retroreflector Array): passive, "eight quartz corner-cube prisms", to help orbiters or landers "determine their orbit position or navigate to the surface", and "to build a network of permanent location markers on the Moon".
    • LETS (Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer): a radiation monitor that measures "how strong radiation is and what kind of radiation is hitting the lunar surface", "from a variety of lunar transit approaches and at different locations on the lunar surface".

    Joel Kearns (SMD): "By flying the same science instruments on multiple landers, we will better understand potential hazards during landing and build out a global network of environmental data and location markers on the Moon … akin to having weather stations in different locations on Earth." NASA "also is reviewing options for these landers to deliver potential additional payloads".

  • Cadence. Ryan Stephan, "NASA's Moon Base acting director of cargo landers": "We're building a proving ground for Moon Base operations." "With 17 lunar surface deliveries across multiple providers". The CLPS page has the same count.

  • PROMISE. "The agency is considering plans to send to the Moon, PROMISE (Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration), a hybrid engineering development version of the Mars Perseverance and Curiosity rovers", to "characterize the lunar surface, subsurface, and prospect for resources".
  • Coming solicitations. "Lunar landers to deliver a power and avionics technology demonstration, another science manifest, and a South Pole optical imager"; "an open solicitation for Moon Base technology demonstrations"; and "a lunar communication and navigation relay constellation to enable improved communication between Moon Base elements and Earth".

What it doesn't say

  • No landing sites and no Moon Base phase. Late 2028 falls inside Phase One's dates on the phases page, which doesn't list these four.
  • The September PRISM suites are not among the payloads named here. Whether they ride on these landers isn't said (open question 75).
  • No ADD data gap or tech gap. The wiki's matching of SCALPSS and LETS to data gaps is on the data gaps index.

Missions and assets · CLPS · DN-012 L Surface radiation · DN-017 L Plume ejecta · SCaN Networks (the relay constellation)