Federal lunar spending
$1.1B in CLPS lunar delivery contracts.
What NASA has put on contract to land robotic payloads on the Moon: 9 distinct CLPS task orders, counted once each at their most concrete reported value. SAM-verified where confirmed; every figure links its source.
+ $3.5B — Blue Origin Manufacturing, LLC's Blue Moon Mark 2 HLS (human landing system), announced value. Tracked separately — a crewed-lander program, not part of the CLPS delivery total above.
Confidence
Key actors
all 45 →Target regions
all 31 →Chang'e-7
Second half of 2026
Class
Orbiter + lander + rover + hopper
Status
At launch site / prelaunch preparation
Payloads
4
Actors
China National Space Administration, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Region
Moon's South Pole
Crescent Space Parsec initial lunar network nodes
Operational target 2026
Class
Lunar communications/navigation spacecraft
Status
Planned
Payloads
1
Actors
Crescent Space, Lockheed Martin
Region
Cislunar / lunar orbit service region
Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 2
NET late 2026
Class
Robotic lander + transfer/orbiter
Status
Planned
Payloads
6
Actors
NASA, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Firefly Aerospace +5
Region
Lunar far side surface plus lunar orbit
Lunar Pathfinder
NET November 2026 / delivered with Blue Ghost Mission 2
Class
Lunar communications relay satellite
Status
In assembly/integration/test
Payloads
2
Actors
NASA, Firefly Aerospace, European Space Agency +1
Region
Lunar orbit; services for polar and far-side missions
Moon Base I / Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance
NET fall 2026
Class
Robotic lander / technology demo
Status
Planned; environmental testing completed
Payloads
4
Actors
NASA, Blue Origin
Region
Shackleton Connecting Ridge, lunar South Pole
Moon Base II / Astrobotic Griffin Mission One
Late 2026 (Astrobotic) / NET July 2026 (NASA, stale)
Class
Robotic lander + rover delivery
Status
Planned; lander unveiled, entering environmental testing (mid-June 2026)
Payloads
2
Actors
NASA, Astrobotic, Venturi Astrolab +1
Region
Nobile Crater near lunar South Pole
Moon Base III / Intuitive Machines IM-3 Nova-C Trinity
2026 / targeted this year
Class
Robotic lander
Status
Planned
Payloads
2
Actors
NASA, Intuitive Machines, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory +2
Region
Reiner Gamma lunar swirl
Artemis III
2027
Class
Crewed low-Earth-orbit HLS demonstration
Status
Planned; crew named
Payloads
2
Actors
NASA, Blue Origin, European Space Agency +4
Region
Low Earth orbit; lunar landing-system precursor, not a lunar surface mission under current architecture
Chandrayaan-4
2027-2028 target window
Class
Robotic lunar sample-return mission
Status
Approved / in development
Payloads
2
Actors
Indian Space Research Organisation
Region
Moon; landing site not fixed in approval notice
Draper Mission 1 / ispace-U.S. APEX 1.0
2027
Class
Robotic lander
Status
Planned
Payloads
1
Actors
NASA, Draper, ispace-U.S.
Region
Schrödinger Basin
Intuitive Machines IM-4 Nova-C
2027
Class
Robotic lander
Status
Planned
Payloads
6
Actors
NASA, Intuitive Machines, European Space Agency
Region
Mons Mouton, lunar South Pole region
LUMIO
Planned 2027 / as early as 2027
Class
12U CubeSat lunar-farside meteoroid observer
Status
Approved / planned
Payloads
2
Actors
European Space Agency
Region
Earth-Moon L2 halo orbit observing lunar farside
VIPER delivery on Blue Moon Mark 1
Late 2027
Class
Robotic rover delivery
Status
Planned
Payloads
1
Actors
NASA, Blue Origin
Region
Lunar South Pole / permanently shadowed regions
Artemis IV
Early 2028
Class
Crewed lunar surface mission
Status
Planned
Payloads
3
Actors
NASA, European Space Agency, Lockheed Martin +2
Region
Lunar surface, South Pole region TBD
Artemis V
Late 2028 / schedule subject to Artemis IV readiness
Class
Crewed lunar surface mission
Status
Planned
Payloads
2
Actors
NASA, European Space Agency, Lockheed Martin +3
Region
Lunar surface, South Pole region TBD
Astrolab FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform / CLV-1 LTV deployment
Deployed to surface by 2028
Class
Crewed-capable lunar rover / LTV
Status
Planned / delivery task order
Payloads
2
Actors
NASA, Blue Origin, Venturi Astrolab
Region
Lunar surface / South Pole region
Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX
No earlier than 2028
Class
Robotic lander + rover
Status
Approved / technical interface work underway
Payloads
12
Actors
NASA, European Space Agency, Indian Space Research Organisation +2
Region
Lunar South Pole near permanently shadowed regions
ESA Moonlight LCNS
Initial operations by end of 2028; full operations by 2030
Class
Lunar communications/navigation constellation
Status
Contracted / deploying
Payloads
1
Actors
European Space Agency, Telespazio-led Moonlight consortium, Thales Alenia Space
Region
Lunar elliptical orbits supporting polar/surface users
Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 3
2028
Class
Robotic lander
Status
Planned
Payloads
1
Actors
NASA, Firefly Aerospace
Region
Gruithuisen Domes
Luna-26
2028 / delayed from earlier Russian schedule
Class
Lunar orbiter
Status
Schedule uncertain / delayed
Payloads
1
Actors
Roscosmos
Region
Lunar orbit
Lunar Outpost Pegasus LTV deployment
Deployed to surface by 2028
Class
Crewed-capable lunar rover / LTV
Status
Planned / delivery task order
Payloads
2
Actors
NASA, Blue Origin, Lunar Outpost +1
Region
Lunar surface / South Pole region
MoonFall drones
By 2028
Class
Robotic aerial surface scouts
Status
Planned
Payloads
3
Actors
NASA, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Firefly Aerospace
Region
Near lunar South Pole
NASA Artemis site-agnostic payload cluster
No earlier than 2028; mission assignment TBD
Class
Payload selection awaiting delivery assignment
Status
Selected, not yet assigned to a specific mission
Payloads
3
Actors
NASA
Region
TBD / site-agnostic lunar surface
Artemis annual lunar surface missions / Artemis VI+
Roughly annual from 2029 onward
Class
Crewed lunar surface campaign
Status
Programmatic plan
Payloads
1
Actors
NASA, Commercial HLS providers, International and commercial Artemis partners
Region
Lunar surface, focused on South Pole region
Chang'e-8
Around 2029
Class
Robotic lander / ISRU and international payload mission
Status
Planned; international payloads selected
Payloads
9
Actors
China National Space Administration, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Region
Leibnitz-Beta Plateau near lunar South Pole
Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 4
2029
Class
Robotic lander + orbital relay
Status
Awarded / planned
Payloads
6
Actors
NASA, Firefly Aerospace, Canadian Space Agency
Region
Moon's South Pole region
Luna-27a / Luna-27b
2029-2030 / schedule uncertain
Class
Robotic lunar landers
Status
Schedule uncertain / delayed
Payloads
1
Actors
Roscosmos
Region
Lunar polar surface region TBD
China crewed lunar landing mission
By 2030
Class
Crewed lunar landing
Status
In development
Payloads
6
Actors
China National Space Administration, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China Manned Space Agency
Region
Lunar surface; specific landing site TBD
Intuitive Machines Nova-D South Pole delivery
2030
Class
Robotic lander
Status
Awarded
Payloads
7
Actors
NASA, Intuitive Machines, Australian Space Agency
Region
Moon's South Pole
Luna-28 / Luna-Grunt
2030 / possibly later
Class
Robotic sample-return mission
Status
Schedule uncertain / may slip beyond 2035
Payloads
1
Actors
Roscosmos
Region
Lunar surface / polar target TBD