{"id":259009,"date":"2025-07-30T06:26:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T20:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=3c0b4f490d7ed21826d553efe49742e4"},"modified":"2025-07-30T06:26:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T20:26:25","slug":"nasa-selects-firefly-for-new-artemis-science-tech-delivery-to-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=259009","title":{"rendered":"NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This artist\u2019s concept of Blue Ghost Mission 4 shows Firefly\u2019s Blue Ghost lunar lander and NASA payloads in the lunar South Pole Region, through NASA\u2019s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.<\/div>\n
Credit: Firefly Aerospace<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, $176.7 million to deliver two rovers and three scientific instruments to the lunar surface as part of the agency\u2019s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to explore more of the Moon than ever before.<\/p>\n

This delivery is the first time NASA will use multiple rovers and a variety of stationary instruments, in a collaborative effort 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 discover the potential for using resources available in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough CLPS, NASA is embracing a new era of lunar exploration, with commercial companies leading the way,\u201d said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. \u201cThese investigations will produce critical knowledge required for long-term sustainability and contribute to a deeper understanding of the lunar surface, allowing us to meet our scientific and exploration goals for the South Pole region of the Moon for the benefit of all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the new CLPS task order, Firefly is tasked with delivering end-to-end payload services to the lunar surface, with a period of performance from Tuesday to March 29, 2030. The company\u2019s lunar lander is targeted to land at the Moon\u2019s South Pole region in 2029.<\/p>\n

This is Firefly\u2019s fifth task order award and fourth lunar mission through CLPS. Firefly\u2019s first delivery successfully landed on the Moon\u2019s near side in March 2025 with 10 NASA payloads. The company\u2019s second mission, targeting a launch in 2026, includes a lunar orbit drop-off of a satellite combined with a delivery to the lunar surface on the far side. Firefly\u2019s third lunar mission will target landing in the Gruithuisen Domes on the near side of the Moon in 2028, delivering six experiments to study that enigmatic lunar volcanic terrain.<\/p>\n

“As NASA sends both humans and robots to further explore the Moon, CLPS deliveries to the lunar South Pole region will provide a better understanding of the exploration environment, accelerating progress toward establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon, as well as eventual human missions to Mars,\u201d said Adam Schlesinger, manager of the CLPS initiative at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston.<\/p>\n

The rovers and instruments that are part of this newly awarded flight include:<\/p>\n