NASA sets $10 billion lunar cap, awards Blue Origin rover-delivery contract

NASA selected eight companies to compete for future lunar-delivery missions under a new contract framework with a $10 billion maximum value. Separately, the agency awarded Blue Origin a $94 million base contract to deliver its planned PROMISE rover to the Moon’s South Pole.

NASA announced the actions on Nov. 7, 2026, at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The selections and contracts are part of the agency’s Moon Base effort, but they are plans and procurement actions, not completed lunar missions.

Eight firms can compete for future deliveries i

The new Commercial Lunar Payload Services framework, known as CLPS 2, runs for 10 years and has a combined maximum value of $10 billion. The eight selected companies are Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ispace-U.S., Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems, SpaceX and Voyager Technologies.

Selection makes those companies eligible to compete for future lunar-surface delivery task orders. It does not award a specific mission to each firm or guarantee any company a share of the $10 billion ceiling. The ceiling is a maximum framework value, not $10 billion in missions awarded immediately.

NASA also increased the ceiling on the earlier CLPS 1.0 contract, from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion. That is a $1.6 billion increase, or about 62% over the previous ceiling. CLPS 1.0 remains available for new awards through November 2028; deliveries already awarded can be completed through November 2033. It is separate from the new CLPS 2 framework.

PROMISE rover has a late-2028 target i

NASA is moving forward with PROMISE, a six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It is planned to study the lunar South Pole’s surface and subsurface, assess resource potential and use a drill to collect material from about 1 meter (3 feet) below the surface. NASA also plans science instruments, temperature and radiation sensors, cameras and a radiation-tolerant computing demonstration.

Blue Origin’s $94 million base contract covers delivery of the rover to the lunar South Pole. A further $140 million is a performance-based option, not part of the guaranteed base award. NASA is targeting a late-2028 launch and planning an 18-month rover mission. The rover is to be built using a combination of spare flight components and engineering test models associated with Curiosity and Perseverance.

Separate awards cover transport and power components i

NASA awarded six launch and orbital-transport task orders under its VADR contract to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin and Impulse Space. The orders total about $1.3 billion. VADR is a separate 10-year contract with a $5 billion maximum value. The work includes planned demonstrations involving the CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft, MoonFall scouting drones, and transportation and navigation in cislunar space. NASA named Blue Origin, Relativity Space and SpaceX launch vehicles for some missions, and Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Impulse Space and Quantum Space as in-space transportation providers.

Under a separate existing lunar-logistics contract, NASA selected SpaceX to launch communications satellites to cislunar space aboard Starship in 2028. That work is not one of the six VADR task orders.

NASA also awarded miniCAST component work to Honeybee Robotics for energy storage, Redwire for power generation and Yank Technologies for wireless power transfer. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is to assemble and test the components. The initial awards cover components, not a major integrated power system; NASA anticipates a separate solicitation for integrated systems in early 2027.

NASA’s Moon Base schedule puts Phase One, focused on robotic exploration and learning about the lunar environment, through 2029. The agency describes Phase Two as running from 2029 to 2032 and Phase Three as beginning in 2032.