NASA selects eight providers for next lunar delivery contract

NASA selected eight companies on November 7, 2026, to compete for future Moon delivery missions under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) 2 contract. The agency announced a shared $10 billion ceiling over a 10-year term; selection gives providers access to future competitions.

NASA’s selected providers are Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ispace-U.S., Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems, SpaceX and Voyager Technologies.

The agency said the work includes managing, building and operating landers to carry its science, technology and infrastructure payloads to the lunar surface for Moon Base development.

Intuitive Machines, in its November 9 announcement, described a broader procurement scope than conventional lunar landings. It listed complete payload-delivery missions, direct purchases of landers and funded technology and payload development, alongside orbital delivery, launch rideshares, surface mobility, precision landing and operations through the lunar night.

Intuitive Machines and Voyager Technologies also described an optional five-year extension that could raise the combined ceiling to $15 billion. That expansion depends on NASA exercising the option; the base framework does not itself commit that amount to missions.

For ispace-U.S., the selection creates a route to compete as a prime contractor. The Colorado company said it had supported earlier NASA lunar deliveries as a subcontractor and would offer its ULTRA lander and future designs. Its announcement explicitly stated that joining the contract does not itself constitute a funded mission.

Firefly Aerospace said it is developing a larger lander architecture to carry heavier cargo, terrain vehicles, infrastructure and power systems. The company described the selection as eligibility to compete for task orders, rather than an order for that hardware.

The existing contract will continue alongside the new framework. NASA raised the CLPS 1.0 ceiling from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion and said it remains in place through November 2028, with awarded lunar deliveries allowed to finish through November 2033.