Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Artwork depicts two Artemis astronauts planting an American flag at the lunar south pole.
Image credit: NASA/Daniel O’Neal

NASA announced Tuesday the selection of three companies, totaling nearly $600 million, to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program.

Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines will deliver NASA science payloads to the lunar surface as the agency builds the first U.S. outpost on the Moon.

Firefly follow-up

For example, Firefly will design, build, test, and deliver the mission in approximately two years, half the time of its Blue Ghost Mission.

 Firefly will utilize its proven Blue Ghost lander design and operations to return to the Moon’s and carry three NASA science instruments.

Image credit: Firefly Aerospace

Critical infrastructure

Meanwhile, NASA’s  draft solicitation for NextSTEP-3 Appendix A, titled Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator (LEIA), has been released.

Appendix A is aimed at accelerating the development of critical lunar and cislunar infrastructure capabilities while reducing operational risk through technology maturation and demonstration activities.

Image credit: NASA

Technology areas

The solicitation focuses on five technology areas:

• Vertical Solar Array
• In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Oxygen-from-Regolith Production System
• Stirling Radioisotope Generator System
• In-Space Advanced Manufacturing
• Innovative Nanomaterials Production

The LEIA opportunity is open to U.S. organizations including industry, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations.

For more information, go to:

https://www.nasa.gov/moonbase/