NASA unveils $10 billion contract for moon base as SpaceX and Blue Origin join lunar gold rush

NASA announced Saturday that Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and six other aerospace companies are eligible to compete for up to $10 billion in lunar delivery contracts as the agency advances plans to establish a permanent base on the Moon.

The announcement, made at the MAX POWER Aerospace Expo and Air Show at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, expands NASA’s commercial lunar program, bringing together private companies to provide scientific equipment, technology and infrastructure to the Moon’s south pole.

The new Commercial Lunar Payload Services Framework has a maximum combined value of $10 billion over 10 years, with that figure representing a cap on future task orders, not money already allocated to participating companies.

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An animation depicts a rover traveling on the lunar surface. NASA announced plans Saturday to develop a nuclear-powered rover for exploration near the Moon’s south pole. (NASA / Unknown)

Along with SpaceX and Blue Origin, NASA has selected Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, iSpace US, Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems and Voyager Technologies to compete for future lunar delivery missions.

“We are building the Moon base mission by mission,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement.

“When our astronauts return to the Moon, they will arrive with the first elements of the lunar base already waiting for them on the surface.”

NASA also increased the maximum value of its existing CLPS contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion to support the initial phase of its Moon base plans.

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An artist’s rendering shows NASA’s planned moon base near the lunar south pole. The agency announced new contracts Saturday to support a sustained human presence on the Moon. (NASA / Unknown)

Beyond the new contract framework, Blue Origin was awarded a separate $94 million base contract to deliver NASA’s nuclear-powered PROMISE rover to the lunar South Pole, with an additional $140 million available through a performance-based option.

The six-wheeled rover, officially named the “Polar Rover for In Situ Observation, Mapping and Exploration,” will examine the lunar surface and subsurface, including regions thought to harbor water ice that could help support a sustained human presence.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will build the rover using spare flight components and engineering test models from its Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers, an approach the agency says will reduce development costs.

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Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) lunar surface lander. (NASA)

Blue Origin will use its Mark 1 lunar lander to deliver the rover, and NASA is targeting a launch in late 2028 for an 18-month mission.

The agency also awarded six transportation task orders worth about $1.3 billion combined to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin and Impulse Space.

These missions will test technologies for moving cargo between Earth and the Moon, including navigation systems and robotic drones intended to scout potential landing zones.

NASA selected SpaceX for a separate demonstration under an existing lunar logistics contract to deploy communications satellites aboard its Starship rocket to the region between Earth and the Moon in 2028.

The demonstration aims to help NASA develop communications networks connecting astronauts, mission controllers and future lunar infrastructure.

NASA also announced awards to Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, Redwire and Yank Technologies for components for a lunar energy and communications tower project.

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The system will combine solar power and wireless power transfer to support operations on the Moon’s surface.

NASA says the projects will help establish a lasting U.S. presence on the Moon’s South Pole, with commercial partners providing necessary equipment and infrastructure before astronauts arrive.

The agency hopes to eventually use its lunar operations as a basis for crewed missions to Mars.