NASA Outlines First Missions, Awards Rover Contracts for Permanent Moon Base
Agency Targets Late 2026 for First Lunar South Pole Lander as Part of Sustained Presence Campaign
NASA has announced the first three missions and awarded more than $600 million in contracts to establish Moon Base, a long-term lunar infrastructure initiative aimed at building a sustained human presence at the Moon’s South Pole ahead of crewed Artemis landings in 2028.
“The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
The announcements came Tuesday at a Moon Base event at NASA Headquarters in Washington, where agency leaders revealed target launch timeframes, rover awards, and lander contracts — laying out the most detailed roadmap yet for humanity’s first permanent outpost on another celestial body.
“The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Every mission, crewed and uncrewed, will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.”
First Three Missions
NASA outlined three initial Moon Base missions, all targeting launches in 2026:
Moon Base I is targeted for launch no earlier than fall 2026. Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander will deliver NASA payloads to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge, including the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies instrument — designed to analyze how thrusters interact with the Moon’s surface — and a Laser Retroreflective Array to help orbiting spacecraft determine more precise locations using reflected laser light. The landing site and mission profile are intended to reduce risk ahead of crewed Artemis missions in 2028.
Moon Base II, also planned for 2026, will deliver more than 1,100 pounds of cargo using Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, including Astrolab’s FLIP rover, to mature mobility systems that will inform future Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) operations.
Moon Base III will fly the first payload selected through NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon initiative. The anchor investigation, Lunar Vertex, will fly aboard Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Trinity lander to study lunar swirls — bright patches on the Moon’s surface — to improve understanding of surface evolution and material behavior under extreme conditions. The mission will also carry payloads from the European Space Agency and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute.
These three missions are the first of more than a dozen planned for announcement this year.
Rover Contracts Awarded
NASA has awarded contracts to two companies to build the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles, which will provide both crewed and autonomous mobility at the South Pole:
Astrolab received $219 million to develop its Crewed Lunar Vehicle, or CLV-1, adapted from the company’s FLEX architecture. The rover weighs approximately 2,000 pounds, can transport astronauts and supplies, and is capable of speeds exceeding 6 mph on level terrain.
Lunar Outpost received $220 million for its Pegasus rover, a lighter evolution of its Eagle rover platform. Pegasus can operate manually, autonomously, or via teleoperation for up to one year and can exceed 9 mph. The design incorporates Apollo-heritage technologies.
Both vehicles will be deployed to the lunar surface by 2028 through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Over the next 18 months, the selected providers will finalize designs, conduct crewed evaluations, and qualify flight units for operational readiness.
NASA also awarded Blue Origin $188 million, with an option period worth $280.4 million, for two task orders to deliver rovers to the lunar South Pole. The option period can be exercised based on initial phase performance.
MoonFall Drone Scout Mission
NASA also provided an update on MoonFall, a mission to send four autonomous drones on short hops across the lunar surface to survey potential Artemis astronaut landing sites. Firefly Aerospace has been selected to build the spacecraft that will transport the drones from Earth orbit to the Moon. Launch is targeted for 2028.
The drones will independently land and gather high-resolution imagery of hard-to-reach terrain over a single lunar day. After their final flights, each drone’s survive-the-night payload will continue to operate for several months, which NASA says would represent a sustained U.S. presence at the lunar South Pole.
What’s Next
NASA’s final CLPS 2.0 request for proposals was released May 15, with responses due June 30. That next-generation lander framework will introduce enhanced flexibility, allowing NASA to order turn-key delivery services or accept CLPS hardware for integration into its own missions.
The agency said additional CLPS 1.0 task awards for Moon Base payloads and technology demonstrations will be announced in the coming weeks, with further competition opportunities to follow.