This site may earn chapter commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

Moon-Feature

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine hosted a press conference today to reveal the adjacent phase of the agency's lunar ambitions. The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) has its first official partners. The ix companies announced at the result will brainstorm developing technology to support the upcoming Gateway lunar station and land modest payloads on the moon itself. You've probably heard of some of these companies, but others are new players in space exploration.

The CLPS plan is starting with relatively modest payloads topping out at ten kg (22 pounds). Fifty-fifty sending something pocket-sized to the moon is no simple feat as the expiration of the Lunar X Prize demonstrated. Still, the focus on smaller payloads has opened the door to startups in CLPS as well as established aerospace firms.

It's no surprise that Lockheed Martin Space is among the nine CLPS companies. It's one of the largest NASA contractors and is currently working on the Orion coiffure module. Deep Space Systems, which has worked on Orion, Juno, and other NASA missions is as well in the mix. Draper is some other long-fourth dimension space contractor in the CLPS program. It's working with several partners including Nippon's Ispace.

Both Astrobotic Engineering and Moon Limited are on the list as well. Y'all might recognize these companies from the Lunar X Prize. Participating in CLPS is a natural move for them even if they didn't manage to win the Google-sponsored competition. Meanwhile, a startup called Orbit Beyond is in the running for NASA's moon payloads, and it's working with TeamIndus, the Indian spaceflight company that almost won the Lunar X Prize contest. Every bit for the other startups and smaller players, NASA has Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, and Masten Space Systems.

The Commercial Lunar Payload Services contracts have a total value of $ii.6 billion over the next 10 years. NASA believes the first missions could head for the moon as soon equally next year, and it already has some payloads in mind. The showtime few launches will probably be technology demonstrations, but NASA hopes to written report radiation exposure on the moon too as the potential for in-situ resources extraction.

NASA has previously suggested that information technology could start constructing the Gateway lunar station as before long equally 2023. That will depend on the success of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Maintaining a permanent human presence in lunar orbit will require a lot of support services that NASA tin can't handle on its ain.

Now read: NASA's Mars Cubesat Mission Was a Smashing Success, Too, Hither's What's Side by side for NASA's InSight Mars Lander, and Lockheed Wants to Build a Lunar Lander for NASA's Gateway Station