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By NASA
This artist’s concept of Blue Ghost Mission 4 shows Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander and NASA payloads in the lunar South Pole Region, through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.Credit: Firefly Aerospace NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, $176.7 million to deliver two rovers and three scientific instruments to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to explore more of the Moon than ever before.
This delivery is the first time NASA will use multiple rovers and a variety of stationary instruments, in a collaborative effort with the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and the University of Bern, to help us understand the chemical composition of the lunar South Pole region and discover the potential for using resources available in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon.
“Through CLPS, NASA is embracing a new era of lunar exploration, with commercial companies leading the way,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These investigations will produce critical knowledge required for long-term sustainability and contribute to a deeper understanding of the lunar surface, allowing us to meet our scientific and exploration goals for the South Pole region of the Moon for the benefit of all.”
Under the new CLPS task order, Firefly is tasked with delivering end-to-end payload services to the lunar surface, with a period of performance from Tuesday to March 29, 2030. The company’s lunar lander is targeted to land at the Moon’s South Pole region in 2029.
This is Firefly’s fifth task order award and fourth lunar mission through CLPS. Firefly’s first delivery successfully landed on the Moon’s near side in March 2025 with 10 NASA payloads. The company’s second mission, targeting a launch in 2026, includes a lunar orbit drop-off of a satellite combined with a delivery to the lunar surface on the far side. Firefly’s third lunar mission will target landing in the Gruithuisen Domes on the near side of the Moon in 2028, delivering six experiments to study that enigmatic lunar volcanic terrain.
“As NASA sends both humans and robots to further explore the Moon, CLPS deliveries to the lunar South Pole region will provide a better understanding of the exploration environment, accelerating progress toward establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon, as well as eventual human missions to Mars,” said Adam Schlesinger, manager of the CLPS initiative at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The rovers and instruments that are part of this newly awarded flight include:
MoonRanger is an autonomous microrover that will explore the lunar surface. MoonRanger will collect images and telemetry data while demonstrating autonomous capabilities for lunar polar exploration. Its onboard Neutron Spectrometer System instrument will study hydrogen-bearing volatiles and the composition of lunar regolith, or soil.
Lead development organizations: NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and Carnegie Mellon University and Astrobotic, both in Pittsburgh. Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies will use enhanced stereo imaging photogrammetry, active illumination, and ejecta impact detection sensors to capture the impact of the rocket exhaust plume on lunar regolith as the lander descends on the Moon’s surface. The high-resolution stereo images will help predict lunar regolith erosion and ejecta characteristics, as bigger, heavier spacecraft and hardware are delivered to the Moon near each other in the future.
Lead development organization: NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Laser Retroreflector Array is an array of eight retroreflectors on an aluminum support structure that enables precision laser ranging, a measurement of the distance between the orbiting or landing spacecraft to the reflector on the lander. The array is a passive optical instrument, which functions without power, and will serve as a permanent location marker on the Moon for decades to come.
Lead development organization: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. A CSA Rover is designed to access and explore remote South Pole areas of interest, including permanently shadowed regions, and to survive at least one lunar night. The CSA rover has stereo cameras, a neutron spectrometer, two imagers (visible to near-infrared), a radiation micro-dosimeter, and a NASA-contributed thermal imaging radiometer developed by the Applied Physics Laboratory. These instruments will advance our understanding of the physical and chemical properties of the lunar surface, the geological history of the Moon, and potential resources such as water ice. It will also improve our understanding of the environmental challenges that await future astronauts and their life support systems.
Lead development organization: CSA. Laser Ionization Mass Spectrometer is a mass spectrometer that will analyze the element and isotope composition of lunar regolith. The instrument will utilize a Firefly-built robotic arm and Titanium shovel that will deploy to the lunar surface and support regolith excavation. The system will then funnel the sample into its collection unit and use a pulsed laser beam to identify differences in chemistry compared to samples studied in the past, like those collected during the Apollo program. Grain-by-grain analyses will provide a better understanding of the chemical complexity of the landing site and the surrounding area, offering insights into the evolution of the Moon.
Lead development organization: University of Bern in Switzerland. Through the CLPS initiative, NASA purchases lunar landing and surface operations services from American companies. The agency uses CLPS to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to advance capabilities for science, exploration, or commercial development of the Moon, and to support human exploration beyond to Mars. By supporting a robust cadence of lunar deliveries, NASA will continue to enable a growing lunar economy while leveraging the entrepreneurial innovation of the commercial space industry.
To learn more about CLPS and Artemis, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
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Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 29, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Artemis Earth's Moon View the full article
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By Space Force
Space Systems Command has activated two new System Deltas within the mission area of the Space Force Program Executive Officer for Space Sensing.
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By NASA
NASA Glenn Research Center’s Thermal Energy Conversion Branch team and the University of Leicester’s Space Nuclear Power team pose for a photo at the center in Cleveland following a successful test in January 2025.Credit: NASA/Jef Janis To explore the unknown in deep space, millions of miles away from Earth, it’s crucial for spacecraft to have ample power. NASA’s radioisotope power systems (RPS) are a viable option for these missions and have been used for over 60 years, including for the agency’s Voyager spacecraft and Perseverance Mars rover. These nuclear batteries provide long-term electrical power for spacecraft and science instruments using heat produced by the natural radioactive decay of radioisotopes. Now, NASA is testing a new type of RPS heat source fuel that could become an additional option for future long-duration journeys to extreme environments.
Historically, the radioisotope plutonium-238 (plutonium oxide) has been NASA’s RPS heat source fuel of choice, but americium-241 has been a source of interest for the past two decades in Europe. In January, the Thermal Energy Conversion Branch at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and the University of Leicester, based in the United Kingdom, partnered through an agreement to put this new option to the test.
One method to generate electricity from radioisotope heat sources is the free-piston Stirling convertor. This is a heat engine that converts thermal energy into electrical energy. However, instead of a crankshaft to extract power, pistons float freely within the engine. It could operate for decades continuously without wear, as it does not have piston rings or rotating bearings that will eventually wear out. Thus, a Stirling convertor could generate more energy, allowing more time for exploration in deep space. Researchers from the University of Leicester — who have been leaders in the development of americium RPS and heater units for more than 15 years — and NASA worked to test the capabilities of a Stirling generator testbed powered by two electrically heated americium-241 heat source simulators.
“The concept started as just a design, and we took it all the way to the prototype level: something close to a flight version of the generator,” said Salvatore Oriti, mechanical engineer at Glenn. “The more impressive part is how quickly and inexpensively we got it done, only made possible by a great synergy between the NASA and University of Leicester teams. We were on the same wavelength and shared the same mindset.”
Salvatore Oriti, mechanical engineer in the Thermal Energy Conversion Branch at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, adjusts the Stirling testbed in preparation for testing at the center in January 2025.Credit: NASA/Jef Janis The university provided the heat source simulators and generator housing. The heat source simulator is the exact size and shape of their real americium-241 heat source, but it uses embedded electric heaters to create an equivalent amount of heat to simulate the decay of americium fuel and therefore drive generator operation. The Stirling Research Lab at Glenn provided the test station, Stirling convertor hardware, and support equipment.
“A particular highlight of this (testbed) design is that it is capable of withstanding a failed Stirling convertor without a loss of electrical power,” said Hannah Sargeant, research fellow at the University of Leicester. “This feature was demonstrated successfully in the test campaign and highlights the robustness and reliability of an Americium-Radioisotope Stirling Generator for potential future spaceflight missions, including long-duration missions that could operate for many decades.”
The test proved the viability of an americium-fueled Stirling RPS, and performance and efficiency targets were successfully met. As for what’s next, the Glenn team is pursuing the next version of the testbed that will be lower mass, higher fidelity, and undergo further environmental testing.
“I was very pleased with how smoothly everything went,” Oriti said of the test results. “Usually in my experience, you don’t accomplish everything you set out to, but we did that and more. We plan to continue that level of success in the future.”
For more information on NASA’s RPS programs, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/rps
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Information provided by the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar mission (NISAR) will help to protect and inform communities around the world. The data will aid in managing agricultural fields, monitoring volcanoes, and tracking land-based ice including glaciers.NASA/JPL-Caltech Data from NISAR will map changes to Earth’s surface, helping improve crop management, natural hazard monitoring, and tracking of sea ice and glaciers.
A new U.S.-India satellite called NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) will provide high-resolution data enabling scientists to comprehensively monitor the planet’s land and ice surfaces like never before, building a detailed record of how they shift over time. Hailed as a critical part of a pioneering year for U.S.-India civil space cooperation by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi during their visit in Washington in February, the NISAR launch will advance U.S.-India cooperation and benefit the U.S. in the areas of disaster response and agriculture.
As the first joint satellite mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), NISAR marks a new chapter in the growing collaboration between the two space agencies. Years in the making, the launch of NISAR builds on a strong heritage of successful programs, including Chandrayaan-1 and the recent Axiom Mission 4, which saw ISRO and NASA astronauts living and working together aboard the International Space Station for the first time.
The information NISAR provides will help decision-makers, communities, and scientists monitor agricultural fields, refine understanding of natural hazards such as landslides and earthquakes, and help teams prepare for and respond to disasters like hurricanes, floods, and volcanic eruptions. The satellite will also provide key global observations of changes to ice sheets, glaciers, and permafrost, as well as forests and wetlands.
The NISAR mission is slated to launch no earlier than July 30 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeastern coast aboard an ISRO Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.
Here are five things to know about NISAR:
1. The NISAR satellite will provide a 3D view of Earth’s land and ice.
Two synthetic aperture radars (SARs) aboard NISAR will detect changes in the planet’s surface down to fractions of an inch. The spacecraft will bounce microwave signals off Earth’s surface and receive the return signals on a radar antenna reflector measuring 39 feet (12 meters) across. The satellite’s ability to “see” through clouds and light rain, day and night, will enable data users to continuously monitor earthquake- and landslide-prone areas and determine how quickly glaciers and ice sheets are changing. It also will offer unprecedented coverage of Antarctica, information that will help with studying how the continent’s ice sheet changes over time.
2. Data from NISAR will provide critical insights to help governments and decision-makers plan for natural and human-caused hazards.
Earthquakes, volcanoes, and aging infrastructure can pose risks to lives and property. Able to see subtle changes in Earth’s surface, NISAR can help with hazard-monitoring efforts and potentially give decision-makers more time to prepare for a possible disaster. For earthquakes, NISAR will provide insights into which parts of a fault slowly move without producing quakes and which are locked together and could potentially slip. The satellite will be able to monitor the area around thousands of volcanoes, detecting land movement that could be a precursor to an eruption. When it comes to infrastructure such as levees, aqueducts, and dams, NISAR data collected over time can help managers detect if nearby land motion could jeopardize key structures, and then assess the integrity of those facilities.
3. The most advanced radar system ever launched as part of a NASA or ISRO mission, NISAR will generate more data on a daily basis than any previous Earth satellite from either agency.
About the length of a pickup truck, NISAR’s main body contains a dual-radar payload — an L-band system with a 10-inch (25-centimeter) wavelength and an S-band system with a 4-inch (10-centimeter) wavelength. Each system is sensitive to land and ice features of different sizes and specializes in detecting certain attributes, such as moisture content, surface roughness, and motion. By including both radars on one spacecraft — a first — NISAR will be more capable than previous SAR missions. These two radars, one from NASA and one from ISRO, and the data they will produce, exemplify how collaboration between spacefaring allies can achieve more than either would alone.
NISAR press kit The radars will generate about 80 terabytes of data products per day over the course of NISAR’s prime mission. That’s roughly enough data to fill about 150 512-gigabyte hard drives each day. The information will be processed, stored, and distributed via the cloud — and accessible to all.
This artist’s concept depicts the NISAR satellite in orbit over central and Northern California. The spacecraft will survey all of Earth’s land and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days.NASA/JPL-Caltech 4. The NISAR mission will help monitor ecosystems around the world.
The mission’s two radars will monitor Earth’s land and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days. Their near-comprehensive coverage will include areas not previously covered by other Earth-observing radar satellites with such frequency. The NISAR satellite’s L-band radar penetrates deep into forest canopies, providing insights into forest structure, while the S-band radar is ideal for monitoring crops. The NISAR data will help researchers assess how forests, wetlands, agricultural areas, and permafrost change over time.
5. The NISAR mission marks the first collaboration between NASA and ISRO on a project of this scale and marks the next step in a long line of Earth-observing SAR missions.
The NISAR satellite features components developed on opposite sides of the planet by engineers from ISRO and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory working together. The S-band radar was built at ISRO’s Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, while JPL built the L-band radar in Southern California. After engineers from JPL and ISRO integrated NISAR’s instruments with a modified ISRO I3K spacecraft bus and tested the satellite, ISRO transported NISAR to Satish Dhawan Space Centre in May 2025 to prepare it for launch.
The SAR technique was invented in the U.S. in 1952 and now countries around the globe have SAR satellites for a variety of missions. NASA first used the technique with a space-based satellite in 1978 on the ocean-observing Seasat, which included the first spaceborne SAR instrument for scientific observations. In 2012, ISRO began launching SAR missions starting with Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1), followed by RISAT-1A in 2022, to support a wide range of applications in India.
More About NISAR
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, JPL leads the U.S. component of the project and provided the L-band SAR. JPL also provided the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the Near Space Network, which will receive NISAR’s L-band data.
The ISRO Space Applications Centre is providing the mission’s S-band SAR. The U R Rao Satellite Centre is providing the spacecraft bus. The rocket is from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, launch services are through Satish Dhawan Space Centre, and satellite mission operations are by the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network. The National Remote Sensing Centre is responsible for S-band data reception, operational products generation, and dissemination.
To learn more about NISAR, visit:
https://nisar.jpl.nasa.gov/
How New NASA, India Satellite NISAR Will See Earth Powerful New US-Indian Satellite Will Track Earth’s Changing Surface NASA-ISRO Radar Mission to Provide Dynamic View of Forests, Wetlands NASA-ISRO Mission Will Map Farmland From Planting to Harvest News Media Contacts
Andrew Wang / Jane J. Lee
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-379-6874 / 626-491-1943
andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 21, 2025 Related Terms
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3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A team works together on their project during the 2024 NASA Space Apps Challenge event in in Arequipa, Peru. Teams have two days to respond to the challenges and submit their project for the chance to win one of 10 global awards. NASA invites innovators of all ages to register for the NASA Space Apps Challenge, held on Oct. 4-5. The 2025 theme is Learn, Launch, Lead, and participants will work alongside a vibrant community of scientists, technologists, and storytellers at more than 450 events worldwide. Participants can expect to learn skills to succeed in STEM fields, launch ideas that transform NASA’s open data into actionable tools, and lead their communities in driving technological innovation.
During the NASA Space Apps Challenge, participants in the U.S. and around the world gather at hundreds of in-person and virtual events to address challenges authored by subject matter experts across NASA divisions. These challenges range in complexity and topic, tasking participants with everything from creating machine learning models and leveraging artificial intelligence, to improving access to NASA research, to designing sustainable recycling systems for Mars, and to developing tools to evaluate local air quality here on Earth.
Dr. Yoseline Angel Lopez, a former space apps challenge winner and now an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, can attest that the opportunity to Learn, Launch, Lead goes far beyond the hackathon.
“The NASA Space Apps Challenge gave me and my team a meaningful opportunity to apply science to real-world problems and gain validation from NASA scientists and industry experts,” said Angel.
In 2021, her team’s winning web-app prototype was adopted by Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture, connecting smallholder farmers with local buyers. The platform also supported agricultural land-use monitoring using satellite imagery.
After the hackathon, project submissions are judged by NASA and space agency experts. Winners are selected for one of 10 global awards.
“Participating in the hackathon is exciting on its own. But when your project can lead to greater opportunities and make a difference in your community, that’s a dream come true,” said Angel. She will return to the 2025 hackathon as a NASA subject matter expert and challenge author, giving a Golden Age of innovators the opportunity to make a difference in their communities through the use of data from NASA and 14 space agency partners.
This year’s partners include: Bahrain Space Agency; Brazilian Space Agency; CSA (Canadian Space Agency); ESA (European Space Agency); ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation); Italian Space Agency; JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency); Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre of the United Arab Emirates; National Space Activities Commission of Argentina; Paraguayan Space Agency; South African National Space Agency; Spanish Space Agency; Turkish Space Agency; and the UK Space Agency.
NASA Space Apps is funded by NASA’s Earth Science Division through a contract with Booz Allen Hamilton, Mindgrub, and SecondMuse.
We invite you to register for the 2025 NASA Space Apps Challenge and choose a virtual or in-person event near you at:
https://www.spaceappschallenge.org
Find videos about Space Apps at:
youtube.com/c/NASASpaceAppsChallenge
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