UNIPA News Desk|| 02 July-NASA has awarded four new Phase One lunar lander contracts worth nearly $600 million, marking the next step in its Moon Base program aimed at establishing a sustained human presence on the Moon ahead of future Artemis missions.
The contracts, announced on June 30, 2026, target missions launching no earlier than 2028. Two awards went to Astrobotic for its Peregrine-2 and Peregrine-3 landers, while Intuitive Machines secured a contract for its IM-4 lander. Firefly Aerospace also received a contract to deliver a new variant of its Blue Ghost lunar lander.
The newly selected missions will expand NASA’s commercial lunar transportation capabilities and build on experience gained from earlier landers that were incorporated into the Moon Base program.
NASA had previously designated three commercial landers as the program’s initial missions: Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance, Astrobotic’s Griffin-1, and Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C. These missions are intended to demonstrate key landing capabilities and establish the foundation for future lunar surface operations.
According to NASA Associate Administrator for the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, Lori Glaze, the latest contracts underscore the agency’s commitment to accelerating efforts to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface while developing the technologies and operational experience needed for sustained exploration.
Each of the newly contracted landers will carry the same set of three scientific payloads. These include the Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS), which will create three-dimensional imagery of how rocket engine exhaust interacts with lunar dust during landing; the Laser Retroreflective Array (LRA), designed to improve landing precision and orbital measurements; and the Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS), which will study the Moon’s radiation environment using advanced silicon detectors.
NASA also said it is evaluating the possibility of sending the Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping and In-Situ Exploration (PROMISE) to the Moon. Originally developed as an engineering test platform for Mars rover technologies, the rover could be repurposed to investigate the lunar surface and subsurface while assessing potential resources.
In addition, the agency plans to seek proposals for future lunar missions carrying power and avionics demonstrations, scientific experiments, and an upgraded optical imager for the Moon’s south polar region. NASA is also pursuing the development of a lunar communications and navigation relay constellation to improve connectivity between Earth and the Moon.
The Moon Base initiative is intended to gradually deploy the infrastructure, transportation systems, and scientific assets required to support extended human operations on the lunar surface, forming part of NASA’s broader strategy for future Artemis missions.
