NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon

NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, 176.7 million dollars to deliver two Rovers and three scientific instruments to the lunar surface as part of the Agency’s CLPS initiative (commercial lunar payload services) and the Artemis campaign to explore the moon more than ever.

This delivery is the first time that NASA will have used several Rovers and a variety of stationary instruments, in an effort to collaborate with the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and the University of Bern, to help us understand the chemical composition of the Lunar South Pole region and to discover the potential for the use of the resources available in the Moon of the Moon.

“Thanks to CLPS, NASA adopts a new era of lunar exploration, commercial companies paving the way,” said Joel Kearns, deputy deputy administrator for exploration, directorate of scientific mission, NASA headquarters in Washington. “These surveys will produce critical knowledge necessary for long -term sustainability and will contribute to a more in -depth understanding of the lunar surface, allowing us to achieve our scientific and exploration objectives for the South Pole region of the Moon for the benefit of all.”

Under the new CLPS task prescription, Firefly is responsible for providing end -to -end payroll services to the lunar surface, with a performance period from Tuesday to March 29, 2030. The Lunar Lander of the Company should land in the South Pole of the Moon region in 2029.

This is the fifth Order Order Order Award of Firefly and the fourth lunar mission via CLPS. Firefly’s first delivery managed to land on the side of the moon in March 2025 with 10 useful charges from NASA. The company’s second mission, targeting a launch in 2026, includes a drop in the lunar orbit from a satellite combined with delivery to the lunar surface on the other side. The third lunar mission of Firefly will aim for landing in the domes of Gruthuisen on the side of the moon in 2028, offering six experiments to study this enigmatic lunar volcanic terrain.

“While NASA sends both humans and robots to explore the moon further, ClPS deliveries to the lunar region of the South pole will allow a better understanding of the exploration environment, accelerating progress towards the establishment of a long -term human presence on the Moon, as well as any human missions in Mars,” said Adam Schlesinger, Director of CLP Initiative NASA in Houston.

Rovers and instruments that are part of this newly attributed flight include:

• Moonranger is an autonomous microver that will explore the lunar surface. Moonranger will collect images and telemetry data while demonstrating autonomous capacities for lunar polar exploration. Its neutron spectrometer system instrument on board will study the volatiles bearing hydrogen and the composition of the lunar or soil regolith.
  Main development organizations: the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley in California, and Carnegie Mellon University and Astrobotic, both in Pittsburgh.
• Stereo cameras for surface studies of the lunar plume will use improved stereo imaging photogrammetry, active lighting and ejecta impact detection sensors to capture the impact of rocket exhaust plume on the lunar regolith when the landing descends to the surface of the moon. High -resolution stereo images will help predict the characteristics of the erosion of the lunar regolith and ejection, because spatial devices and larger and heavier equipment are delivered to the moon from each other in the future.
  Main development organization: Langley Research Center from NASA in Hampton, Virginie.
• The laser retro -retroreflector network is a table of eight retroreflectors on an aluminum support structure which allows the variety of precision laser, a distance of the distance between the spacecraft in orbit or landing to the landing reflector. The table is a passive optical instrument, which works without electricity, and will serve as a permanent location on the moon for the decades to come.
  Main development organization: Goddard Space Flight Center from NASA in Greenbelt, Maryland.
• A Rover CSA is designed to access and explore the distant areas of interest from the South Pole, including permanently shaded regions, and to survive at least a lunar night. The CSA Rover has stereo cameras, a neutron spectrometer, two imagers (visible for close infrared), a radiation micro-dosimator and a thermal imaging radiometer contributed to the NASA developed by the applied physics laboratory. These instruments will make our understanding of the physical and chemical properties of the lunar surface, geological history of the moon and potential resources progress such as water ice. This will also improve our understanding of the environmental challenges that await future astronauts and their survival systems.
  Main development organization: CSA.
• The laser ionization mass spectrometer is a mass spectrometer that will analyze the isotopic element and composition of the lunar regolith. The instrument will use a robotic arm and a titanium shovel built by the fight against the fight against the lunar surface and will support the excavation of the regolith. The system will then channel the sample in its collection unit and use a pulsed laser beam to identify the differences in chemistry compared to the samples studied in the past, such as those collected during the Apollo program. Grain grain analyzes will provide a better understanding of the chemical complexity of the landing site and the surrounding area, offering an overview of the evolution of the moon.
  Main development organization: University of Bern in Switzerland.

Thanks to the CLPS initiative, NASA buys landing services and lunar surface operations from American companies. The agency uses CLPs to send scientific instruments and technological demonstrations to advance the capacities of science, exploration or trade development of the moon, and to support human exploration beyond Mars. By supporting a solid rate of lunar deliveries, NASA will continue to allow a growing lunar economy while taking advantage of the entrepreneurial innovation of the commercial space industry.

To find out more about CLP and Artemis, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/clps

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Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
Alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov

Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nullufar.ramji@nasa.gov