NASA awards Firefly Aerospace $112mn contract to deliver crucial payloads to far side of moon

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday announced that it haspicked US-based rocket builder Firefly Aerospace for an important $112 million contract. The NASA contract is for the delivery of multiple lunar payloads to the far side of the moon in 2026. It is part of NASA's efforts to put humans on the moon.

As per the Firefly Aerospace website, this is the second task the firm has won under NASA'sCommercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

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To fulfill its contractual obligations, Firefly, as per the company website, will use its "Blue Ghost spacecraft in a two-stage configuration to first place a satellite into lunar orbit and then deliver two research payloads on the far side of the Moon."

"This mission will debut Firefly’s unique two-stage Blue Ghost spacecraft, offering NASA and other customers multiple deployment options as we collectively build the infrastructure for ongoing lunar operations and planetary exploration," said the rocket maker in a statement.

As per Reuters, NASA had previously handed a similar contract worth $73 million to spacecraft software firm Draper last year. The award was for the delivery of science and technology payloads to the far side of the moon in 2025.

The US space agency is attempting to take humanity to the moon through its Artemis program's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which is undertaking a crucial step before humanity lands on the moon.

CLPS is an effort to deploy privately built lunar landers to study the moon's surface before humans set a foot on the celestial object.

Humanity may make it to the moon in the next few years. Multiple countries, including the United States and China, have undertaken missions to achieve this feat.

(With inputs from agencies)

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