NASA unveils four missions to land science payloads

NASA unveils – NASA has selected Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines to land four lunar missions in late 2028, awarding a total of $600 million for the flights. The missions will carry identical science payloads designed to improve landing safety and build a

On Tuesday, NASA didn’t just talk about returning to the moon. It placed four separate landing plans on the calendar—late 2028—and tied them to the kind of work that, if it goes right, could make a future moon base feel less like a promise and more like an operation.

The agency announced that three companies have been selected to receive a total of $600 million to land four missions on the lunar surface. Astrobotic will conduct two of the four missions, while Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines will each handle one. NASA says the flights will deliver crucial science payloads meant to help build a permanent base on the moon’s surface.

“We’re building a proving ground for Moon Base operations. ” Ryan Stephan. NASA’s Moon Base acting director of cargo landers. said in a statement. He added that accelerating NASA’s Moon mission ordering cadence and launch opportunities is meant to help the agency move quickly to learn. iterate. and improve.

NASA’s pitch for the missions is simple: make landing safer and more predictable by testing the same instruments on multiple landers. Each flight will use an updated version of an already-flown lander design, and each will carry identical scientific payloads.

The payloads include a high-tech camera designed to produce a 3D view of the landing site—data intended to help scientists understand the conditions on the moon for a larger spacecraft to land later. The instruments also include a laser navigational array and an instrument to study radiation.

Joel Kearns. NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration in the Science Mission Directorate. said in the same statement that flying the same science instruments on multiple landers will help NASA better understand potential hazards during landing. He also said the program is meant to build a global network of environmental data and location markers on the moon. comparing it to having weather stations in different locations on Earth.

NASA’s selection of the companies comes as another major piece of its lunar push faces turbulence. A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket. chosen as the launch vehicle for several planned moon missions. exploded on the launchpad in May. Blue Origin said it will be back up and running soon enough to avoid major delays to NASA’s timeline.

The moon work is also reshaping NASA’s thinking about Mars. At a press event on Tuesday, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency could launch its first robotic lunar rover. He pointed out that while other countries—including Japan and India—have landed rovers on the moon in recent years. NASA has never managed the feat.

To change that, Isaacman said NASA could repurpose the Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration (PROMISE). The rover was originally supposed to go to Mars, where it was planned to join Curiosity and Perseverance. Now, Isaacman said it may finally be put to use on the moon instead.

“We are thinking very hard right now about sending PROMISE to the moon,” he said at the Tuesday event.

The new mission awards sit inside a wider overhaul of NASA’s lunar plans that began after Isaacman took the helm in December of last year. An executive order issued that month directed NASA to focus on the moon. including goals such as landing people on the lunar surface by 2028 for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. and initiating construction on a permanent crewed base by 2030.

Since then, Isaacman has laid out a multi-stage approach. In March, he unveiled a $30-billion roadmap intended to speed up lunar landings and help get the base under way. A central step is the Artemis IV mission—NASA astronauts landing on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. NASA does not have a definite launch date for Artemis IV. but is aiming for launch in the first half of 2028.

After that, NASA wants to ferry astronaut crews to a semi-permanent base on the lunar south pole by 2032, and then establish a permanent outpost powered by a nuclear reactor by 2036.

Taken together, the plan calls for 79 launches, 73 lunar landers, 10 moon buggies, and multiple drones, along with various habitat modules and other infrastructure.

The Tuesday announcement offered the first clear window into how those steps might be built on the ground. In funding terms. Astrobotic was awarded $297.9 million to conduct two missions. while Firefly Aerospace received $144.2 million for a single mission and Intuitive Machines was awarded $148.3 million for its one mission. NASA said each company’s missions will use those updated versions of already-flown lander designs and will carry the same scientific payloads.

Back on the calendar, the target is late 2028.

Whether NASA can turn that timetable into a real moon base will depend on more than rocket launches and spacecraft hardware. It will also hinge on how quickly NASA can learn—about hazards. landing conditions. and radiation levels—using the kind of repeated. comparable data these four lunar missions are designed to produce.

NASA Moon base lunar missions Astrobotic Firefly Aerospace Intuitive Machines Artemis IV PROMISE rover Blue Origin New Glenn moon science payloads 3D camera laser navigational array radiation study