UPDATE: Administrator Announces Moon Partnerships
UPDATE:
Nine U.S. companies now are eligible to bid on NASA delivery services to the lunar surface through Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contracts, as one of the first steps toward long-term scientific study and human exploration of the Moon and eventually Mars.
These companies will be able to bid on delivering science and technology payloads for NASA, including payload integration and operations, launching from Earth and landing on the surface of the Moon. NASA expects to be one of many customers that will use these commercial landing services.
“Today’s announcement marks tangible progress in America’s return to the Moon’s surface to stay,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “The innovation of America’s aerospace companies, wedded with our big goals in science and human exploration, are going to help us achieve amazing things on the Moon and feed forward to Mars.”
The selected companies are:
- Astrobotic Technology, Inc.: Pittsburgh
- Deep Space Systems: Littleton, Colorado
- Draper: Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Firefly Aerospace, Inc.: Cedar Park, Texas
- Intuitive Machines, LLC: Houston
- Lockheed Martin Space: Littleton, Colorado
- Masten Space Systems, Inc.: Mojave, California
- Moon Express: Cape Canaveral, Florida
- Orbit Beyond: Edison, New Jersey
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will announce new Moon partnerships with American companies on Thurs Nov. 29. These partnerships will help achieve long-term scientific study and human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Employees will be able to tune in to the administrator’s announcement at 1 p.m. CT on NASA TV and the NASA Live website.
The event will highlight Johnson Space Center as NASA Astronaut Stan Love and Apollo sample lab manager Andrea Mosie, who will chat with the administrator via a live feed from Johnson.
Tune in and witness the next step as NASA returns to the Moon as a proving ground to go to Mars and beyond.
This story will be updated to reflect the selected companies after the announcement.
