Partnership will Advance the CT-4 Lunar Lander Mission
Tec-Masters to Support Orbit Beyond with Assembly and Integration and Testing
A partnership that will lead to an eventual landing on the Moon has been announced by Tec-Masters and Orbit Beyond. Under the agreement, Tec-Masters will lead the Assembly, Integration, and Test (AI&T) of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) CT-4 lunar lander and its scientific payloads.
“We regard this mission as a defining moment for Tec-Masters as we bridge our NASA/DoD experience with commercial lunar delivery.”
Marvin Carroll, Tec-Masters.
Tec-Masters will be responsible for system integration, environmental qualification, functional testing, and full systems validation. Orbit Beyond will supply the lander’s architecture (structure, propulsion, guidance, navigation, and control subsystems) and will lead mission design, operations, communications, data management, and software development, alongside other industry collaborators. The commercial lunar lander is specifically engineered for sustained operations through the two-week lunar night—a critical capability for future CLPS and science missions targeting the Moon’s south pole. The lander incorporates an integrated fuel-cell-based power system, autonomous thermal regulation, and mission management software designed to maintain system functionality in the absence of sunlight and during extreme thermal cycles approaching –170 °C. This architecture enables continuous science, data return, and communications across lunar day–night periods.
“We regard this mission as a defining moment for Tec-Masters as we bridge our NASA/DoD experience with commercial lunar delivery.” said Marvin Carroll, CEO of Tec-Masters.
Tec-Masters will utilize its fabrication and R&D facilities, along with its Tele-Science Center which will provide continuous payload monitoring and support throughout launch, lunar transit, orbit, descent and landing, and surface operations. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has signed a letter of intent stating that, if the Orbit Beyond/Tec-Masters team is selected for CT-4, MSFC intends to make available key test infrastructure—such as XRCF thermal vacuum chambers, EMI/EMC facilities, ISO8 clean room facilities, robotics labs, and structural/environmental test labs—and to provide subject-matter expertise to help align with NASA standards and mission assurance protocols.
The CT-4 mission is part of NASA’s CLPS program, intended to support more frequent, cost-effective delivery of science and technology payloads to the Moon. The mission will carry a suite of scientific instruments designed to probe lunar geology, thermal properties, volatiles, and exosphere behavior at the south pole, enabling new insight into resource distribution and surface evolution. With its capability to survive the lunar night, Orbit Beyond’s lander will extend data collection beyond daylight hours—doubling the mission’s science return by observing thermal cycles, dust dynamics, and volatile exchanges across diurnal boundaries.
“Orbit Beyond is honored to work alongside Tec-Masters to advance lunar logistics, science delivery, and infrastructure,” said Siba Padhi, CEO of Orbit Beyond.
During integration and testing phases, the partners will execute overlapping test campaigns, rigorously manage interfaces, and leverage both NASA and commercial assets to stay on schedule for hardware delivery by February 2030 and a planned landing on the south pole of the moon in August 2030. The collaboration leverages Tec-Masters’ extensive experience in spacecraft integration and mission operations, combined with Orbit Beyond’s precision landing and systems architecture, and MSFC’s deep test infrastructure and mission assurance capabilities, to establish a repeatable and resilient platform for long-duration lunar surface missions. Together, the team aims to deliver CT-4 on time, maximize scientific return, and set a new benchmark for commercial lunar mission execution.
This partnership harnesses Tec-Masters’ AI&T capabilities to integrate advanced spacecraft systems and scientific instruments with Orbit Beyond’s lander and operations expertise — building CT-4 for reliable, high-performance delivery and maximum science return,” said Reggie Spivey, COO of Tec-Masters.