Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)
CLPS is NASA's $2.6B indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) vendor catalog that buys robotic lunar deliveries from a pre-qualified pool of 14 U.S. commercial landers — turning the Moon into a pay-per-delivery market rather than a flagship cost-plus program [1][2]. After Astrobotic's Peregrine failure (Jan 2024) and Intuitive Machines' historic IM-1 landing (Feb 22, 2024 — the first U.S. soft landing in 52 years, albeit tipped over), Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost 1 returned the first fully successful upright commercial landing on March 2, 2025, proving the model and unlocking a multi-year task-order pipeline through IM-3, IM-4 and Blue Ghost 2 [3][4][5][6].
Funding & Contract Structure
Total committed: $2.6B aggregate IDIQ ceiling across 14 qualified vendors through 2028; cumulative task orders awarded exceed $1.4B as of May 2026 across IM-1 through IM-4, Peregrine, Blue Ghost 1 & 2, Draper CP-12 and Astrobotic Griffin VIPER-related work [1][7]
Annual run-rate: NASA's Science Mission Directorate has historically allocated $250-400M/year of CLPS task-order activity; FY2025 enacted appropriation sustains the program through Artemis IV science-payload deliveries [9]
Per launch: Task-order value ranges from $77M (IM-1) to $129.5M (Draper CP-12); average circa $90-110M per delivery for ~100 kg payload class — roughly an order of magnitude below comparable cost-plus lunar science missions [4][8]
Procurement vehicle: TASK-ORDER — Indefinite-delivery contract; agency issues task orders against a ceiling.
Congressional status: Bipartisan congressional support since FY2019; House and Senate appropriations committees have sustained CLPS funding through five enacted budgets; FY2027 budget request continues the program [9]
GAO / CRS findings
| Date | Finding |
|---|---|
| NASA OIG IG-24-013 found CLPS task-order cost growth (most orders rebased upward 20-40% post-award) and schedule slippage averaging 18-24 months per task order; recommended stronger insight authority and risk-sharing controls[2] | |
| NASA OIG IG-22-013 audit found that two of the first three CLPS vendors (Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines) experienced cost growth on initial task orders and that CLPS's commercial framework limited NASA's insight into vendor performance[10] |
Beneficiary Breakdown
| Contractor | Role | Share | Ticker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Machines | prime | Most-awarded CLPS vendor with four task orders (IM-1 $77M, IM-2 $77M, IM-3 $77M, IM-4 $116.95M); Nova-C and Nova-D lander families plus NSNS lunar relay constellation[4] | LUNR |
| Firefly Aerospace | prime | Blue Ghost 1 task order ($93.3M, successful March 2025) plus Blue Ghost 2 ($112M, lunar far side mission with European Space Agency Lunar Pathfinder relay)[5] | private |
| Astrobotic Technology | prime | Peregrine task order ($79.5M, failed Jan 2024) and Griffin Mission One ($306.6M, formerly VIPER delivery, restructured post-VIPER cancellation); largest single CLPS award by value[3] | private |
| Draper Laboratory | prime | CP-12 task order ($129.5M) for Schrödinger basin lunar far-side delivery; teamed with ispace U.S. for SERIES-2 lander hardware and General Atomics for instruments[8] | private |
| Lockheed Martin | prime | Qualified vendor in the CLPS pool; no task orders won to date but maintains bid eligibility through 2028 ceiling[2] | LMT |
| SpaceX | supplier | Falcon 9 launch services for IM-1, IM-2, IM-3, Blue Ghost 1, Blue Ghost 2 and Astrobotic Griffin; effective preferred launcher for CLPS payloads of all sizes[5] | private |
Key Milestones
NASA awards initial CLPS IDIQ to nine vendors with $2.6B ceiling through 2028 (later expanded to 14 vendors)
First three CLPS task orders awarded: Astrobotic Peregrine ($79.5M), Intuitive Machines IM-1 ($77M), Orbit Beyond (subsequently withdrew)
Astrobotic Peregrine launches on ULA Vulcan Centaur inaugural flight, suffers propellant leak, disposed of via Earth re-entry on January 18, 2024 — no lunar landing attempt
Intuitive Machines IM-1 (Nova-C Odysseus) soft-lands near Malapert A on February 22, 2024 — first U.S. lunar landing since Apollo 17 (1972) — but tips over on touchdown
NASA cancels VIPER lunar rover (originally scheduled to fly on Astrobotic Griffin) after $450M sunk; Griffin task order restructured to deliver alternative payloads
Firefly Blue Ghost 1 soft-lands upright in Mare Crisium on March 2, 2025 — first fully successful commercial lunar landing; operates all 10 NASA payloads for one lunar day
Intuitive Machines IM-2 lands at Mons Mouton on March 6, 2025 but tips over; PRIME-1 ice drilling payload only partially deployed
IM-3 (Reiner Gamma + NSNS relay nodes), Blue Ghost 2 (far-side with ESA Pathfinder relay), Draper CP-12 (Schrödinger basin) all targeted for launch
Intuitive Machines IM-4 (Nova-D class south-polar delivery) and Astrobotic Griffin Mission One (restructured) targeted
CLPS IDIQ ceiling expires; NASA expected to issue follow-on procurement (CLPS-2) or pivot to integrated Artemis surface logistics contract
Catalysts
| Date | Event | Sentiment |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Machines IM-3 — Reiner Gamma lunar swirl delivery on Nova-C; carries NASA Lunar Vertex rover plus four NSNS lunar relay nodes for the constellation seed[4] | bullish | |
| Firefly Blue Ghost 2 — first commercial far-side lunar landing with ESA Lunar Pathfinder relay support; demonstrates Mare Crisium / far-side dual-architecture capability[5] | bullish | |
| Draper CP-12 — Schrödinger basin far-side delivery (NET late 2026); first U.S. lander to operate at Schrödinger; six NASA + DLR / KARI international payloads[8] | bullish | |
| Intuitive Machines IM-4 — south-polar delivery of NASA's Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm (COLDArm); larger Nova-D lander class debut[4] | bullish | |
| Astrobotic Griffin Mission One — restructured following VIPER cancellation; delivers NASA-purchased commercial science suite under new task-order scope[3] | neutral |
Risk Register
Competitive Landscape
Investability Map
| Ticker | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| LUNR | high | Intuitive Machines is the purest-play public CLPS name with four awarded task orders and the largest delivery backlog in the pool. Lunar Surface Access Services and NSNS lunar relay contracts add non-CLPS revenue. Operating losses through FY2024-25 are the offsetting risk. |
| RKLB | low | Rocket Lab supplies the spacecraft bus for Astrobotic's Griffin (under sub-tier teaming); not a prime CLPS vendor but earns sub-tier revenue when CLPS task orders execute. |
| LMT | low | Lockheed Martin is a qualified CLPS pool member but holds no awarded task orders to date — option value only; exposure is dominated by Orion / cost-plus Artemis work. |
| BA | low | Boeing is not in the CLPS qualified pool but ULA's Vulcan Centaur (Boeing-Lockheed JV) provides launch services for Astrobotic Peregrine; minimal residual exposure post-failure. |
Not investment advice. Figures as-quoted from cited sources.
Sources
- [1] NASA — Commercial Lunar Payload Services overview (Agency budget doc, accessed )
- [2] NASA OIG IG-24-013 — NASA's Management of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Initiative (May 2024); cost growth and schedule findings (GAO / CRS report, accessed )
- [3] NASA — Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One CLPS task-order page and post-mission disposal (Jan 18, 2024) (Agency budget doc, accessed )
- [4] NASA — Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission page; first U.S. lunar landing since Apollo 17, Feb 22, 2024 (Agency budget doc, accessed )
- [5] NASA — Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 completes lunar surface operations (Mar 2025); first fully successful commercial landing (Agency budget doc, accessed )
- [6] NASA — Intuitive Machines IM-2 / PRIME-1 mission post-landing summary (Mar 2025); Mons Mouton landing site, partial PRIME-1 deployment (Agency budget doc, accessed )
- [7] NASA — CLPS task order awards summary and upcoming mission catalog (Agency budget doc, accessed )
- [8] NASA — Draper Lab CP-12 Schrödinger basin task-order announcement ($129.5M, far-side) (Agency budget doc, accessed )
- [9] NASA — Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request (Apr 3, 2026) (Agency budget doc, accessed )
- [10] NASA OIG IG-22-013 — Earlier CLPS audit (Aug 2022); cost growth on initial Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines task orders (GAO / CRS report, accessed )
- [11] NASA — VIPER lunar rover project cancellation announcement (July 17, 2024) (Agency budget doc, accessed )
- [12] Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ: LUNR) — FY2024 annual report; -$67M operating loss (Official company site, accessed )
- [13] Astrobotic Technology — Griffin Mission One and lunar lander programme overview (Official company site, accessed )
- [14] Firefly Aerospace — Blue Ghost lunar lander programme (Official company site, accessed )
- [15] SpaceNews — CLPS task-order timeline and vendor catalog analysis (Industry trade press, accessed )
- [16] Rocket Lab — Photon and Hyperbolic Rail spacecraft bus content for lunar payloads (Official company site, accessed )