spacetoday.net: NASA adds five companies to CLPS program

NASA adds five companies to CLPS program

Posted: Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 10:05 AM ET (1505 GMT)
SpaceX Starship on the Moon (SpaceX)

NASA added five companies, including Blue Origin and SpaceX, to its commercial lunar lander program. Those companies, along with Ceres Robotics, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, received contracts Monday for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The companies join nine others eligible to compete for task orders to deliver NASA payloads to the surface of the moon. NASA emphasized landers with larger payload capacities in this competition, with Blue Origin offering its Blue Moon lander and SpaceX its Starship vehicle, which the company says could land up to 100 metric tons on the moon.