NASA selects eight firms, including SpaceX, to vie for up to $10 billion in lunar delivery contracts
NASA announced that eight companies will compete for contracts worth as much as $10 billion to transport equipment and infrastructure for a permanent lunar outpost, while SpaceX also outlined long-term manufacturing plans for the Moon.
NASA said on Nov. 7 that it has chosen eight companies – among them SpaceX, Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin Space – to compete for contracts valued at up to $10 billion to deliver equipment and infrastructure to the Moon. The selections are part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which will enable private firms to build and operate landers for scientific instruments, technology and other hardware over the next decade.
"We are building the Moon Base mission by mission," NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said. "When our astronauts return to the Moon, they will arrive with the first elements of the Moon Base already waiting for them on the surface."
NASA’s roadmap calls for robotic scouting of the lunar south pole in 2029 to locate sites for future facilities, followed by the development of power, cargo and communications systems between 2029 and 2032. After 2032, the focus will shift to making the outpost habitable for crewed missions and supporting deeper-space exploration.
In addition to the new competition, NASA has already awarded $1.3 billion to Blue Origin, Impulse Space and Arrow Science and Technology for tasks such as testing lunar-Earth communications, developing cargo-transfer methods and deploying survey drones. The agency also selected SpaceX to launch a satellite on a Starship in 2028 to demonstrate communications technology for lunar operations, and contracted several firms, including Honeybee Robotics, to work on power generation and wireless power transfer for a Mini-Communications and Solar Tower.
SpaceX’s filing indicates that the company intends to eventually build lunar factories that would process moon-derived raw materials into AI-focused satellites, citing potential cost reductions from the Moon’s lower gravity. The firm also mentioned concepts such as a lunar mass driver for electromagnetic satellite launch and the extraction of rare materials for quantum-computing and nuclear-energy applications. While these plans extend beyond cargo delivery, the immediate contracts focus on supporting NASA’s goal of a permanent lunar presence.