Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

As part of its commitment to a robust, sustainable lunar exploration program for the benefit of all, NASA issued a Request for Information Friday to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s VIPER Moon rover.

Posted August 10, 2024

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Earth's Moon

Johnson Space Center

Science Mission Directorate

NASA Ends VIPER Project, Continues Moon Exploration

Following a comprehensive internal review, NASA announced Wednesday its intent to discontinue development of its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project. NASA stated cost increases, delays to the launch date, and the risks of future cost growth as the reasons to stand down on the mission.

Posted July 17, 2024

Earth's Moon

Artemis

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Lunar Science

Mars

Planetary Geosciences & Geophysics

Planetary Science

Science Instruments

NASA to Measure Moonquakes With Help From InSight Mars Mission

The technology behind the two seismometers that make up NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite was used to detect more than a thousand Red Planet quakes. The most sensitive instrument ever built to measure quakes and meteor strikes on other worlds is getting closer to its journey to the mysterious far side of the Moon. It’s one […]

Posted May 29, 2024

Kennedy Space Center

Artemis

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

General

NASA Technology Helps Guard Against Lunar Dust

Defeating dust may be a small concern for most people on Earth, but for astronauts and spacecraft destined for the Moon or Mars, it is a significant hazard that must be mitigated. That’s why researchers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are seeking innovative ways to use Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) technology. Using transparent […]

Posted April 10, 2024

General

Ames Research Center

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Earth's Moon

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

NASA VIPER Robotic Moon Rover Team Raises Its Mighty Mast

NASA’s VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – now stands taller and more capable than ever. And that’s thanks to its mast. VIPER’s mast, and the suite of instruments affixed to it, looks a lot like the rover’s “neck” and “head.” The mast instruments are designed to help the team of rover drivers […]

Posted April 1, 2024

CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration)

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

CADRE Rovers’ Test Drive in the Mars Yard

Two full-scale development model rovers, part of NASA’s Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) technology demonstration, drive in the Mars Yard at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in this image from August 2023.

Posted March 26, 2024

Technology

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Earth's Moon

Game Changing Development Program

Robotics

Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA’s Network of Small Moon-Bound Rovers Is Ready to Roll

Construction and testing are complete on the CADRE rovers, which will map the lunar surface together as a tech demo to show the promise of multirobot missions. A trio of small rovers that will explore the Moon in sync with one another are rolling toward launch. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California […]

Posted March 7, 2024

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

NASA Collects First Surface Science in Decades via Commercial Moon Mission

For the first time in more than 50 years, NASA was able to collect data from new science instruments and technology demonstrations on the Moon. The data comes from the first successful landing of a delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.

Posted March 1, 2024

Artemis

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

NASA, Intuitive Machines to Discuss Moon Mission, Science Successes

NASA and Intuitive Machines will co-host a televised news conference at 2 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 28, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to highlight the company’s first mission, known as IM-1. The lander, called Odysseus, carried six NASA science instruments to the South Pole region of the Moon as part of the […]

Posted February 27, 2024

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Earth's Moon

Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA’s LRO Images Intuitive Machine’s Odysseus Lander

On Feb. 22, Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, called Odysseus, completed a seven-day journey to lunar orbit and softly landed near crater Malapert A in the South Pole region of the Moon at 6:24 p.m. EST. On Feb. 24, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft passed over the landing site at an altitude of about 56 miles […]

Posted February 26, 2024