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More NASA Science, Tech will Fly to Moon Aboard Future Firefly Flight
- NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace $179 million to deliver six experiments to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s Artemis campaign.
- This fourth task order for Firefly will target landing in the Gruithuisen Domes on the near side of the Moon in 2028.
- Under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, Firefly will deliver a group of science experiments and technology demonstrations to better understand planetary processes and evolution, and help prepare for future human missions to the lunar surface.
- Firefly’s first lunar delivery is scheduled to launch no earlier than mid-January 2025 and will land near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium.
- The newly awarded delivery in 2028 will send payloads to the Gruithuisen Domes and the nearby Sinus Viscositatus, to study geologic processes and lunar regolith.
- NASA also contracted to provide “mobility,” or roving, for some of the scientific instruments on the lunar surface after landing, enabling new types of U.S. scientific investigations.
- The instruments, collectively expected to be about 215 pounds (97 kilograms) in mass, include Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer, Heimdall, Sample Acquisition, Morphology Filtering and Probing of Lunar Regolith, Low-frequency Radio Observations from the Near Side Lunar Surface, Photovoltaic Investigation on the Lunar Surface, and Neutron Measurements at the Lunar Surface.
- Through CLPS, NASA purchases lunar landing and surface operations services from American companies. The agency uses CLPS to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to advance capabilities for science, exploration, or commercial development of the Moon.
- By supporting a robust cadence of lunar deliveries, NASA will continue to enable a growing lunar economy while leveraging the entrepreneurial innovation of the commercial space industry.
- Two upcoming CLPS flights scheduled to launch in early 2025 will deliver NASA payloads to the Moon’s near side and south polar region, respectively.
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