See every side of every news story
Published loading...Updated

NASA taps Firefly for 2029 Moon South Pole mission with $180 million contract

MOON'S SOUTH POLE, JUL 29 – Firefly Aerospace will deliver five NASA payloads using its Blue Ghost lander and Elytra Dark vehicle to study lunar conditions vital for future exploration, under a $176.7 million contract.

  • On July 30, 2025, NASA awarded Firefly Aerospace a $176.7 million CLPS contract to deliver five payloads to the Moon's South Pole by 2029.
  • Amid growing demand for cost savings, NASA is increasingly turning to private companies like Firefly through CLPS to accelerate lunar exploration and support the lunar economy.
  • Using Firefly's Elytra Dark orbital vehicle, Blue Ghost Mission 4 will deploy two rovers and three scientific instruments, with the lander operating for over 12 days and remaining in lunar orbit for more than five years.
  • Following the task order award, Joel Kearns said, 'This new CLPS task order continues our commitment to commercial partnerships as we expand our reach on the Moon,' supporting investigations that will produce critical knowledge for lunar sustainability.
  • Looking ahead, this contract under the new CLPS task order commits Firefly to deliver payload services through March 29, 2030, marking its fifth task order and fourth lunar mission.
Insights by Ground AI
Does this summary seem wrong?

13 Articles

Think freely.Subscribe and get full access to Ground NewsSubscriptions start at $9.99/yearSubscribe

Bias Distribution

  • 86% of the sources are Center
86% Center

Factuality 

To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium

Ownership

To view ownership data please Upgrade to Vantage

NASA (Source) broke the news in Washington, United States on Tuesday, July 29, 2025.
Sources are mostly out of (0)