NASA has started its formal solicitation for a new round of commercial services to conduct human landing system maturation and risk reduction work to help inform future routine crewed transportation from lunar orbit to the moon’s surface.
The agency said Thursday it will award milestone-based contracts worth up to $45 million to each company that will be chosen to help polish requirements for establishing a series of Artemis trips under the Appendix N broad agency announcement of the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 initiative.
SpaceX won a $2.89 billion contract in April under NextSTEP-2 Appendix H BAA to conduct the first crewed demonstration mission to the moon.
The solicitation for new lunar exploration and transportation services will include the development of sustaining HLS concept of ground and flight operations, according to NASA.