NASA opens a $10 billion lunar-delivery competition and funds a PROMISE landing

NASA said on Nov. 7 that Blue Origin, Firefly, SpaceX, and Voyager Technologies are among eight companies that may compete for lunar deliveries under CLPS 2, a 10-year contract with a $10 billion combined ceiling. Blue Origin received a $94 million base contract, plus an option of up to $140 million, to land the nuclear-powered PROMISE rover with a Blue Moon Mark 1, with a late 2028 launch target and an 18-month mission. NASA also awarded about $1.3 billion of combined transport task orders to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space, named Firefly and Impulse as in-space transport providers, said some missions will fly on New Glenn, Terran R, or Falcon 9, and selected SpaceX to launch communications satellites on Starship to cislunar space in 2028.