Summary
NASA has announced new Moon Base contracts and mission plans, including development of the nuclear-powered PROMISE rover and commercial lunar cargo and transportation services. PROMISE is targeted to launch in late 2028.
NASA announced a package of contracts and mission plans on Nov. 7, 2026, to build capabilities for a sustained presence at the Moon’s South Pole. The plans include development of the nuclear-powered PROMISE rover, new opportunities for companies to compete to deliver cargo to the Moon, and transportation and surface-power demonstrations.
PROMISE and transportation for NASA’s MoonFall lunar drones are among the activities managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The wider set of awards covers parts of the journey from Earth orbit to the lunar surface, as well as equipment intended to support future work there.
PROMISE will investigate the lunar South Pole
PROMISE, short for Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration, is a six-wheeled rover designed to study the surface and subsurface, assess resource potential and gather data for selecting landing sites. NASA says its nuclear power source will allow it to operate during long lunar nights and in permanently shadowed regions, where ice is thought to be present.
The rover is planned to carry a drill that can collect regolith—lunar surface material—from about 3 feet (1 meter) below ground. Spectrometers will analyse the chemical composition of surface material, while temperature and radiation sensors and visible-light cameras will support its investigations. PROMISE will also demonstrate radiation-tolerant computing and advanced autonomy sensors and algorithms.
JPL will manage the mission and build the rover using a combination of spare flight components and engineering test models from NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers. NASA says reusing proven hardware, software and operating approaches reduces cost and shortens the schedule for integrating and testing the rover. The agency says it assessed the hardware for the lunar environment near the South Pole.
NASA is targeting a late-2028 launch and planning an 18-month rover mission. Blue Origin received a $94 million base contract to deliver PROMISE to the South Pole, with an additional $140 million option period tied to performance. The company will use its Mark 1 lander to deliver and deploy the rover.
Cargo and transport services build a route to the surface
NASA selected eight companies for the next phase of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, or CLPS. Under the 10-year CLPS 2 master contract, Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, iSpace US, Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems, SpaceX and Voyager Technologies can compete for future lunar delivery missions. The contract has a combined maximum value of $10 billion; selection makes the companies eligible to compete rather than assigning each one a specific delivery.
NASA also awarded six task orders under its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare launch services contract to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin and Impulse Space. The orders are worth approximately $1.3 billion combined. They cover several kinds of missions, including tests of communications and navigation on the route to the Moon, delivery of the CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft for operations around the Moon, and robotic surveys of the South Pole. The survey missions may include MoonFall drones, which are designed to reach terrain beyond the range of traditional rovers.
Some missions are expected to use Blue Origin’s New Glenn, Relativity Space’s Terran R and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. Orbital transfer vehicles will carry cargo through space, while lunar landers handle the final descent to the surface. NASA says the combined procurement is intended to give the agency access to a broader set of commercial transportation capabilities.
Surface infrastructure is also part of the package. NASA awarded Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, work on energy storage for a Mini-Communications and Solar Tower (miniCAST), Redwire work on power generation, and Yank Technologies work on wireless power transfer. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center will assemble and test the components. The initial work is for components, with a separate solicitation for fully integrated power systems anticipated in early 2027.
Together, the awards address cargo delivery, movement between Earth and the Moon, robotic reconnaissance and surface power. NASA presents these capabilities as building blocks for future lunar exploration and sustained operations at the South Pole.