NASA Awards ~$600M in CLPS Phase One Lander Contracts to Astrobotic, Firefly, Intuitive Machines

NASA announced four new Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Phase One Moon Base delivery contracts on June 30, 2026, totaling nearly $600 million: Astrobotic received $297.9 million for two Peregrine-class deliveries, Firefly Aerospace received $144.2 million for one Blue Ghost delivery, and Intuitive Machines received $148.3 million for one Nova-C delivery, all targeting late 2028. Each mission will carry three flight-proven payloads: SCALPSS (a four-camera stereo system measuring engine-plume/lunar-dust interaction), a laser retroreflector array (LRA) for orbital navigation, and LETS, a radiation-monitoring spectrometer for astronaut safety planning. The awards came the same day responses were due on NASA's CLPS 2.0 request for proposals. NASA Associate Administrator Lori Glaze said the awards "demonstrate our commitment to accelerating our effort to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface," while Moon Base Acting Director Ryan Stephan said "accelerating our Moon mission ordering cadence enables us to move quickly to learn, iterate, and improve."