NASA Awards $590m in Lunar Lander Contracts

(JUBA) – NASA has signed contracts worth more than $590 million (SSP 3.835 trillion) with three American companies to build robotic landing modules for its lunar exploration programme.

Astrobotic Technology secured the largest contract, valued at about $298 million (SSP 1.937 trillion). Firefly Aerospace received roughly $144 million (SSP 936 billion), and Intuitive Machines obtained around $148 million (SSP 962 billion).

The agreements form part of the Artemis programme, through which NASA aims to return humans to the Moon and establish permanent infrastructure on the lunar surface. The astronaut landing is currently scheduled for 2028.

Alongside the landing module contracts, NASA is also examining the possibility of sending an experimental lunar rover named Promise to the Moon for mapping and scientific research. “We have the equipment, and this is exactly what we should be trying to achieve – to ensure victories, to bring capabilities like Promise to the lunar surface,” a NASA representative said.

Astrobotic Technology intends to launch its new landing module in late 2026 or early 2027. The spacecraft will be an upgraded version of the Peregrine module, whose mission ended in failure in 2024.