Five companies have won spots on NASA’s potential $2.6B Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract, bringing the total number of awardees to 14.
Blue Origin, Ceres Robotics, Sierra Nevada Corp., SpaceX and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems will compete for orders encompassing launch and payload delivery services in support of NASA’s Artemis mission to the moon in 2024, the agency said Tuesday.
As part of the CLPS effort, contractors may be tasked to deliver payloads such as experiments, power sources and rovers. The contract may also cover transportation services to the lunar surface and equipment to support the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover project.
NASA announced the initial nine awardees for the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract in November 2018 and sought additional lunar lander proposals in July of this year.
“Expanding the group of companies who are eligible to bid on sending payloads to the Moon’s surface drives innovation and reduces costs to NASA and American taxpayers,†said Jim Bridenstine, administrator of NASA and a 2019 Wash100 awardee.
“We anticipate opportunities to deliver a wide range of science and technology payloads to help make our vision for lunar exploration a reality and advance our goal of sending humans to explore Mars.â€
The CLPS contract is slated to run through November 2028.
