NASA has selected Firefly Aerospace for a new mission under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, as part of the Artemis campaign. This award, valued at $176.7 million, tasks Firefly with delivering two rovers and three scientific instruments to the Moon’s South Pole region.
Key details of the mission include:

• Mission Goal: To explore the chemical composition of the lunar South Pole and assess the potential for using local resources, such as hydrogen, water, and minerals.
• Payloads: The delivery will include two rovers (one from the Canadian Space Agency) and three stationary instruments: a Laser Ablation Ionization Mass Spectrometer, a Laser Retroreflector Array, and Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies.
• Lander: Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander will be used for the mission, which is targeted for a 2029 landing.
• Communications: The mission will also utilize Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicle, which will deploy the Blue Ghost lander and then remain in lunar orbit to provide a communications relay for the duration of the mission.
  This is Firefly’s fifth task order and fourth lunar mission through the CLPS program. Firefly has already successfully completed its first lunar mission in March 2025, delivering 10 NASA payloads to the Mare Crisium basin. The company has other planned missions, including one in 2026 to the Moon’s far side and another in 2028 to the Gruithuisen Domes.

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.

Please like subscribe comment your precious comment on universe discoveries

Full article source google

https://www.amazon.in/b?_encoding=UTF8&tag=555101-21&link

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Satyam55