NASA Opens $10B Moon Base Deal to Spacex and Blue Origin

WHO:

NY Post - NASA selected SpaceX, Blue Origin and six other firms to compete for lunar-base contracts.

Fox Business - The selected companies are SpaceX, Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, iSpace US, Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems and Voyager Technologies.

Fox Business - NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, “We are building the Moon Base mission by mission,” and, “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.”

Fox Business - Blue Origin secured a separate contract to deliver NASA’s PROMISE rover; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will build the rover.

Fox Business - Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin and Impulse Space received transportation task orders. Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, Redwire and Yank Technologies received awards for components of a planned lunar power and communications tower.

WHAT:

NY Post - NASA opened contracts worth up to $10 billion for companies to build a permanent Moon base.

Fox Business - The Commercial Lunar Payload Services framework has a maximum combined value of $10 billion over 10 years; the amount is a ceiling for future task orders, not money already awarded.

Fox Business - NASA raised the maximum value of its existing CLPS contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion.

Fox Business - Blue Origin’s base contract for rover delivery is $94 million, with another $140 million available through a performance-based option.

Fox Business - The six-wheeled PROMISE rover—“Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration”—will study the lunar surface and subsurface, including areas believed to contain water ice.

Fox Business - Six transportation task orders total approximately $1.3 billion and will test technologies for moving cargo between Earth and the Moon.

Fox Business - NASA selected SpaceX for a demonstration deploying communications satellites aboard Starship in the region between Earth and the Moon.

WHERE:

Fox Business - NASA announced the selections at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Fox Business - The commercial lunar program will deliver equipment, technology and infrastructure to the Moon’s south pole.

Fox Business - Blue Origin will use its Mark 1 lunar lander to deliver the rover to the lunar South Pole.

WHEN:

Fox Business - The CLPS framework covers 10 years.

Fox Business - NASA is targeting a late-2028 launch for the rover’s 18-month mission.

Fox Business - The SpaceX satellite-deployment demonstration is planned for 2028.

WHY:

Fox Business - The rover will examine regions believed to harbor water ice that could help sustain a human presence.

Fox Business - NASA says using spare flight components and engineering test models from the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers will reduce development costs.

Fox Business - The communications demonstration is intended to help develop networks connecting astronauts, mission controllers and future lunar infrastructure.

Fox Business - NASA plans to establish a sustained American presence at the Moon’s South Pole and hopes lunar operations will provide a foundation for crewed Mars missions.

HOW:

Fox Business - Commercial partners will deliver scientific equipment, technology and infrastructure before astronauts arrive.

Fox Business - The transportation missions will test navigation systems and robotic drones for scouting potential landing areas.

Fox Business - The planned lunar tower will combine solar power and wireless power transfer to support operations on the Moon’s surface.

(UPDATED November 8, 2026 08:56 UTC)

NASA selected eight companies to compete for contracts building a permanent Moon base. Blue Origin will deliver a rover to search for water ice. Commercial partners will prepare power, transportation and communications systems before astronauts arrive.