NASA shares new updates about its Moon Base Mission; Three companies selected to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028
In May, NASA launched a new website called Moon Base for its Moon Base Missions and the agency aimed at building a permanent $20 billion US base on the Moon. It was revealed that the Moon Base development will be done in three phases.
Today, NASA revealed that it is investing more than $500 million to deliver more science and technology to the lunar surface, and for this, the agency has selected three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 to advance its Moon Base development.
NEW: NASA is investing more than $500 million to deliver more science and technology to the lunar surface. The agency has selected three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 to advance @NASAMoonBase development. https://t.co/We89abfvue
— NASA (@NASA) June 30, 2026
The three companies include:
- Astrobotic: Awarded $297.9 million total for two deliveries
- Firefly Aerospace: Awarded $144.2 million for one delivery
- Intuitive Machines: Awarded $148.3 million for one delivery
Each company will use updated versions of already-flown lander designs to enable NASA’s increased mission cadence. The companies are responsible for initiating and executing procurements, providing an assessment of a similar previous lunar lander, and incorporating lessons learned to improve the overall mission reliability.
Each delivery will carry three NASA payloads to the lunar surface:
- Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS)
- Laser Retroreflector Array (LFA)
- Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS)
NASA is also reviewing options for these landers to deliver potential additional payloads to the Moon.
“By flying the same science instruments on multiple landers, we will better understand potential hazards during landing and built out a global network of environmental data and location markers on the Moon,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters. “It’s akin to having weather stations in different locations on Earth. These three payloads are flight-proven and their data is critical to supporting safe human exploration of the lunar surface.”
Apart from this, NASA is also considering plans to send PROMISE (Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration) to the Moon, a hybrid engineering development version of the Mars Perseverance and Curiosity Rovers. Agency experts will define potential opportunities for PROMISE to characterise the lunar surface, subsurface, and prospect for resources.
NASA plans to solicit proposals in the coming months for lunar landers to deliver a power and avionics technology demonstration, another science manifest, and a South Polar optical imager. The agency will also share an open solicitation for Moon Base technology demonstrations and seek a lunar communication and navigation relay constellation to enable improved communication between Moon Base elements and Earth.
