NASA Awards $10B Moon Base Contracts, Nuclear Rover
NASA unveils up to $10B in contracts for moon base by 2032, including CLPS 2 and PROMISE nuclear rover.
TL;DR
- NASA awarded up to $10B in CLPS 2 contracts to eight firms for moon base cargo and deliveries.
- Blue Origin will deliver the nuclear-powered PROMISE rover to hunt water ice from late 2028.
- Additional $1.3B VADR task orders and student challenge support phased base build through 2032.
NASA laid out up to $10 billion in contracts to build a permanent moon base by 2032. The reveal came at the agency’s Max Power event in Florida and covers cargo deliveries, launches, and a nuclear-powered rover for the lunar south pole.
The new CLPS 2 framework runs for 10 years with a $10 billion ceiling. Eight firms will compete: Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ispace-U.S., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, and Voyager Technologies. NASA raised the old CLPS cap from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion for early base work.
Blue Origin won a $94 million base deal, plus a $140 million performance option, to land the PROMISE rover on its Blue Moon Mark 1 lander. The nuclear rover will search for water ice starting late 2028.
Six VADR task orders worth about $1.3 billion went to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, and Impulse Space. They cover lunar cargo runs, CAPSTONE 2 navigation tests, and MoonFall drone scouting. Launches will use New Glenn, Falcon 9, and Terran R rockets.
SpaceX also won a lunar logistics job to fly communications satellites on Starship in 2028. Honeybee Robotics, Redwire, and Yank Technologies won work on miniCAST power and comms towers.
NASA split the effort into phases: Phase One runs through 2029 for robotic demos and deliveries, Phase Two builds infrastructure from 2029 to 2032, and Phase Three gets the base running.
At the same event, NASA opened a $1 million student challenge for moon base design ideas across power, construction, life support, mobility, comms, and safety. Registration closes January 2027.
The Tea
This isn’t just another study contract—it’s real money flowing to commercial players to get hardware on the moon fast. The shift to flexible CLPS 2 shows NASA wants to scale up without getting stuck in all-or-nothing deals. If the rover and comms network hit their marks, the 2032 base timeline starts looking less like a poster and more like a schedule.