On November 7, 2026, NASA announced the selection of eight U.S. companies for the next phase of Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), making them eligible to compete for future lunar deliveries. Aviation Week separately reported six cargo-transport task orders worth about $1.3 billion under NASA’s VADR program. NASA’s roadmap sets both efforts within a longer plan for a future outpost near the lunar South Pole.
What the delivery selections mean
The CLPS 2 provider pool is not a guarantee of a mission for every company in it. Aviation Week reported that the eight companies named for the pool are Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ispace, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX and Voyager Technologies. Members can compete for future work, but pool selection alone does not assign an individual task order.
Aviation Week reported six VADR task orders for cargo transport services, awarded to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin and Impulse Space. The reported value is about $1.3 billion. These are separate from the CLPS 2 provider pool.
A place in the CLPS 2 pool means eligibility to compete for future work; it is not an individual mission assignment.
NASA’s Moon Base plan in three phases
NASA’s roadmap moves from robotic access and learning to early infrastructure, then to a planned outpost where people can live and work. The first phase covers surface access, robotic exploration and technology demonstrations. The next phase is planned to add power, cargo, logistics and communications infrastructure. The final phase aims to bring together habitats and those supporting systems for an enduring human presence. NASA’s Moon Base roadmap places the phases in the periods shown in the timeline.
Missions that build the logistics network
NASA plans CAPSTONE 02 as a two-spacecraft demonstration of proximity operations, autonomous navigation and communications around the Moon. NASA targets it for 2027; Aviation Week reported a 2027–2028 timeframe.
NASA also targets MoonFall’s arrival near the South Pole in 2028. Its four propulsive drones are intended to survey potential landing sites. NASA says each could make multiple flights during one lunar day, which lasts about 14 Earth days.
Aviation Week also reported plans for a 2028 cislunar communications demonstration using Starship and Starlink satellites. “Cislunar” refers to the region around the Moon and between Earth and the Moon. The planned demonstrations and targets form part of a future logistics and communications network.
Surface vehicles have different jobs
NASA’s planned unpressurized Lunar Terrain Vehicles would carry two suited crew members and cargo. A suited crew member could drive them; NASA also says they could be operated remotely or autonomously. Blue Origin is to deliver vehicles developed by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost in 2028 under two task orders, with options for later deliveries.
NASA expects a different kind of vehicle in Phase Two: a pressurized rover supplied by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It is planned as a mobile habitat and laboratory where crew members could work without spacesuits. NASA describes a capability for journeys of up to 28 days, with up to 14 days between cargo resupplies.
Aviation Week reported a separate plan for PROMISE, a six-wheeled, nuclear-powered science rover managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The report says it is planned to operate for 18 months and drill up to 3 feet below the lunar surface. Blue Origin’s Mk1 lander is planned to deliver it under a reported $94 million base contract, with a possible $140 million expansion.
