NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace a $177 million contract to deploy payloads to the Moon’s south pole.
“Firefly is honored to support another NASA CLPS task order as a proven, reliable partner for robotic missions to the Moon,” said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace.
Mission to Study the Moon’s South Pole
The space and defense technology company said Tuesday under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, contract, Firefly will deliver five NASA-sponsored scientific payloads to the Moon’s south pole in 2029 using its Elytra orbital vehicle and Blue Ghost lunar lander.
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The payloads include the MoonRanger rover, a Canadian Space Agency rover, a Laser Ablation Ionization Mass Spectrometer, a Laser Retroreflector Array and the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies. These payloads will be utilized to study the composition and resources of the lunar south pole. The mission aims to enhance lunar navigation, assess the lunar regolith’s composition, evaluate the region’s radiation and thermal conditions to determine the possible effects on astronauts and infrastructure, and assess the impact of a lander’s plume on the lunar surface during landings.
Blue Ghost Mission 4
During the Blue Ghost Mission 4, the Elytra Dark transfer vehicle will deploy the lunar lander into the Moon’s orbit, where it will serve as a long-haul communications relay. It will later descend to the Moon’s south pole, deploy rovers and operate the payloads, providing data, power and communication support for over 12 days.
The Elytra Dark vehicle will remain operational in the Moon’s orbit for over five years, supporting the company’s Ocula lunar imaging service. A third Elytra Dark will be introduced into Firefly’s expanding constellation. The other two Elytra vehicles will be deployed during Blue Ghost Missions 2 and 3 to the Moon’s far side in 2026 and the Gruithuisen Domes in 2028, respectively.
