The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday announced that it has&nbsp;picked 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's&nbsp;Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

Watch |&nbsp;Artemis I Explained: NASA's first mission to land humans on the moon after 50 years

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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.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/understanding-the-dark-ages-of-universe-from-far-side-of-the-moon-571754">Unravelling the 'Dark Ages' of our universe from far side of the moon</a>

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.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/mission-to-moon-how-us-and-japan-plan-to-once-again-send-humans-to-the-lunar-surface-481528">Mission to Moon: How US and Japan plan to once again send humans to the lunar surface</a>

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.&nbsp;

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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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday announced that it has picked US-based rocket builder Firefly Aerospace for an important $112 million contract.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday announced that it has picked 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's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Watch | Artemis I Explained: NASA's first mission to land humans on the moon after 50 years 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. Also read | Unravelling the 'Dark Ages' of our universe from far side of the moon 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. Also read | Mission to Moon: How US and Japan plan to once again send humans to the lunar surface 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) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

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

What do you know about the "Dark Ages" of the universe? Scientists are now trying to peer into the universe's ancient past by using the moon as a platform. They are preparing to place a small radio telescope on the far side of the moon which will help them learn more about the universe's ancient past, or what they are calling the "Dark Ages".

What are the Dark Ages?

Our universe's Dark Ages can be traced back to between about 400,000 and 400 million years after the Big Bang happened. This was when the stars and galaxies had not fully formed. Till now, &nbsp;a benchmark called the cosmic microwave background was being used to know more about the earlier stages of the universe. But now scientists are set to reach the far side of the moon to catch faint radio waves from the Dark Ages.

Using LuSEE-Night to catch signals from the universe's ancient past

Scientists are gearing up to send a Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night) to the moon in the next few years. The LuSEE-Night is a pathfinder being jointly developed by US Department of Energy's Brookhaven and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, the Space Science Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, and NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

The LuSEE-Night is currently scheduled for a late 2025 launch on a private robotic lunar lander. It will touch down on the far side of the moon from where it will try to grab signals and faint radio waves from the universe's Dark Ages using onboard antennas, radio receivers and a spectrometer.&nbsp;

"So far, we can only make predictions about earlier stages of the universe using a benchmark called the cosmic microwave background. The Dark Ages Signal would provide a new benchmark," Brookhaven physicist Anže Slosar said in a statement. "And if predictions based on each benchmark don't match, that means we've discovered new physics."

But LuSEE-Night will just be the first step in a larger mission since a pathfinder cannot gather all relevant data by itself. The whole mission in itself might end up answering bigger cosmic questions such as, what is the nature of dark energy and more about the creation of the universe, the scientists said.

Why the far side of the moon?

Scientists explain that the far side of the moon offers the best environment to study such signals and radio waves because of the unimaginable silence it offers. Earth has an extremely noisy environment due to the constant radio signals emanating from satellites. However, the far side of the moon, while being quiet, also presents several challenges.&nbsp;

The far side of the moon faces away from us in the night sky. The temperature here fluctuates between 121 and minus 173 degree Celsius. It also has a day/night cycle, with each phase lasting 14 days. So LuSEE-Night will have to be designed keeping all this in mind. It needs to withstand the non-stop lunar-day sun and be able to stay powered for two weeks when it will be just cold darkness on the far side.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

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What do you know about the "Dark Ages" of the universe? Scientists are now trying to peer into the universe's ancient past by using the moon as a platform. They are preparing to place a small radio telescope on the far side of the moon which will help them learn more about the universe's ancient past, or what they are calling the "Dark Ages".

What do you know about the "Dark Ages" of the universe? Scientists are now trying to peer into the universe's ancient past by using the moon as a platform. They are preparing to place a small radio telescope on the far side of the moon which will help them learn more about the universe's ancient past, or what they are calling the "Dark Ages". What are the Dark Ages? Our universe's Dark Ages can be traced back to between about 400,000 and 400 million years after the Big Bang happened. This was when the stars and galaxies had not fully formed. Till now, a benchmark called the cosmic microwave background was being used to know more about the earlier stages of the universe. But now scientists are set to reach the far side of the moon to catch faint radio waves from the Dark Ages. Using LuSEE-Night to catch signals from the universe's ancient past Scientists are gearing up to send a Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night) to the moon in the next few years. The LuSEE-Night is a pathfinder being jointly developed by US Department of Energy's Brookhaven and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, the Space Science Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, and NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The LuSEE-Night is currently scheduled for a late 2025 launch on a private robotic lunar lander. It will touch down on the far side of the moon from where it will try to grab signals and faint radio waves from the universe's Dark Ages using onboard antennas, radio receivers and a spectrometer. "So far, we can only make predictions about earlier stages of the universe using a benchmark called the cosmic microwave background. The Dark Ages Signal would provide a new benchmark," Brookhaven physicist Anže Slosar said in a statement. "And if predictions based on each benchmark don't match, that means we've discovered new physics." But LuSEE-Night will just be the first step in a larger mission since a pathfinder cannot gather all relevant data by itself. The whole mission in itself might end up answering bigger cosmic questions such as, what is the nature of dark energy and more about the creation of the universe, the scientists said. Why the far side of the moon? Scientists explain that the far side of the moon offers the best environment to study such signals and radio waves because of the unimaginable silence it offers. Earth has an extremely noisy environment due to the constant radio signals emanating from satellites. However, the far side of the moon, while being quiet, also presents several challenges. The far side of the moon faces away from us in the night sky. The temperature here fluctuates between 121 and minus 173 degree Celsius. It also has a day/night cycle, with each phase lasting 14 days. So LuSEE-Night will have to be designed keeping all this in mind. It needs to withstand the non-stop lunar-day sun and be able to stay powered for two weeks when it will be just cold darkness on the far side. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Unravelling the 'Dark Ages' of our universe from far side of the moon

First ever tender shoot grows on far side of Moon

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

Unravelling the 'Dark Ages' of our universe from far side of the moon

First ever tender shoot grows on far side of Moon