Summary
NASA announced contracts and mission plans for lunar cargo deliveries, a nuclear-powered South Pole rover, cislunar transport demonstrations and surface infrastructure. The awards are part of a phased effort to prepare for sustained activity on the Moon.
NASA announced a series of contracts and mission plans on Nov. 7, 2026, for lunar cargo delivery, surface exploration and infrastructure. The awards advance the agency’s Moon Base programme, which is intended to support sustained activity near the Moon’s South Pole through a sequence of robotic and crewed missions.
The announcements include a nuclear-powered rover called PROMISE, new opportunities for companies to compete to deliver cargo to the lunar surface, and demonstrations of transport and communications systems between Earth and the Moon. NASA describes these as parts of a broader effort to build capabilities mission by mission.
PROMISE will investigate the lunar South Pole
PROMISE, short for Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration, is a six-wheeled rover NASA plans to send to the Moon’s South Pole. The agency is targeting a launch in late 2028 and planning an 18-month mission. NASA awarded Blue Origin a $94 million base contract to deliver the rover, with an option period worth an additional $140 million based on performance. Blue Origin is to use its Mark 1 lander for delivery.
The rover is designed to examine the surface and subsurface, assess resource potential and collect information relevant to future landing-site selection and infrastructure. A drill will sample regolith—lunar surface material—to study ice and other resources about 3 feet (1 metre) below the surface. Instruments will also include spectrometers, temperature and radiation sensors, and visible-light cameras.
NASA says nuclear power will allow PROMISE to operate during long lunar nights and in permanently shadowed regions, where ice is thought to be present. The rover will also test a radiation-tolerant computing system and advanced autonomy sensors and algorithms. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will manage the mission and build the vehicle using a combination of spare flight components and engineering test models from the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers. The agency says it assessed the hardware for compatibility with the lunar environment.
Cargo, transport and surface infrastructure awards
NASA selected eight companies for the next phase of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative: Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ispace-U.S., Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems, SpaceX and Voyager Technologies. Under the 10-year CLPS 2 contract, they will be eligible to compete for future missions to build and operate landers carrying NASA science, technology and infrastructure payloads. The contract has a combined maximum value of $10 billion.
A separate set of six task orders, worth approximately $1.3 billion combined, will fund launch and in-space transportation demonstrations under NASA’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare contract. The missions are intended to test communications and navigation on journeys from Earth orbit to the Moon, send drones to survey the lunar South Pole, and demonstrate orbital-transfer services. One mission type will carry the CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft to deep space to test proximity manoeuvres, navigation and communications around the Moon.
NASA also selected SpaceX for a communications demonstration under an existing lunar logistics contract. The company is to launch communications satellites aboard Starship to cislunar space—the region between Earth and the Moon—in 2028. The demonstration is intended to inform the design of future lunar communications networks.
For surface power and communications, NASA awarded contracts to Honeybee Robotics, Redwire and Yank Technologies to supply components for a Mini-Communications and Solar Tower, or miniCAST. The components cover energy storage, power generation and wireless power transfer. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center will assemble and test them. The initial work is for components rather than a fully integrated system; NASA anticipates a separate solicitation for integrated power systems in early 2027.