The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program is an initiative by NASA to enable rapid, frequent, and affordable access to the lunar surface. The goal is to help establish a viable commercial market for lunar delivery services. NASA does this by contracting with American companies to provide end-to-end payload delivery services, rather than NASA developing the lunar landers directly.
The CLPS program started in 2018 when NASA initially selected 9 companies to be part of the vendor pool: Astrobotic, Deep Space Systems, Draper, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, Lockheed Martin, Masten Space Systems, Moon Express and OrbitBeyond. In 2019, 5 additional companies were added: Blue Origin, Ceres Robotics, Sierra Nevada Corporation, SpaceX and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems. This brought the total number of eligible CLPS vendors to 14.
NASA then solicits bids from these companies to provide lunar payloads and services, such as delivering payloads from Earth to the lunar surface. The companies own and operate the landers and rovers, and sell payload space, power, data transmission etc. to NASA and non-NASA customers. Under this approach, NASA can rapidly acquire lunar delivery services without having to develop its own landers.
The CLPS contracts allow companies to also fly commercial payloads alongside NASA’s payloads. This promotes public-private partnerships and helps jumpstart a lunar economy.
CLPS Missions and Payloads
The CLPS program currently has 5 companies awarded lunar delivery contracts: Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, Firefly Aerospace, Draper, and Masten Space Systems. However, Masten filed for bankruptcy in 2022 which led to the cancellation of their CLPS mission.
The first two CLPS missions are scheduled to launch in early 2024 – Astrobotic’s Peregrine mission on the maiden flight of ULA’s Vulcan rocket, followed by Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander mission on a Falcon 9 rocket.
Astrobotic’s Peregrine will land at Lacus Mortis and deliver 14 NASA and commercial payloads. Intuitive Machines will land at Oceanus Procellarum with 6 NASA payloads. Both are targeting landings in early 2024.
Additional CLPS missions are planned through 2028 at a cadence of around 2 per year. Upcoming payloads will focus on lunar science, resource utilization, and technology demonstrations to support the Artemis program.
The investigations and payloads delivered via CLPS will help NASA study the Moon and test capabilities needed for eventual human exploration under the Artemis program. CLPS payloads focus on lunar science, resource utilization, and technology demonstrations that pave the way for humans.
Specific payloads manifested include instruments to study lunar geology, regolith properties, lunar environment and radiation, as well as technology demonstrations of lunar navigation systems, lunar descent and landing sensors, in-situ resource utilization experiments, and sample collection tools.
CLPS Objectives and Contracts
The competitive, commercial nature of CLPS aims to reduce costs and accelerate the return to the Moon in a sustainable way. NASA’s experience with commercial cargo and crew transport to the ISS provided confidence that the commercial approach could work for lunar transportation as well.
The initial CLPS contracts run through 2028 with a cumulative maximum value of $2.6 billion. Individual task orders are valued in the tens of millions of dollars. NASA issues annual calls for payloads and awards new delivery task orders based on their exploration needs and budget availability.
By having multiple commercial providers and payloads for each mission, NASA spreads out risk across the CLPS vendor pool. This “shots on goal” approach expects a 50% success rate, allowing for failures but rapid iterations. Failed landings still provide lessons learned to improve future chances.
Overall, the CLPS program leverages commercial capabilities to build up a robust lunar delivery infrastructure. This will enable more affordable, regular access to the lunar surface over the long term compared to traditional bespoke NASA missions. As more CLPS missions successfully demonstrate end-to-end services, it helps solidify the commercial market and NASA’s exploration plans.
Summary
NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program takes a commercial approach to contracting lunar delivery services from American companies. Multiple providers were selected through a competitive process to own and operate their landers and rovers.
CLPS allows NASA to rapidly acquire transportation to the lunar surface for its science and technology payloads. It also helps jumpstart a lunar economy by allowing companies to fly commercial payloads as well. If successful, this commercial lunar delivery approach could enable regular, affordable access to the Moon’s surface for both government and private sector customers.
