May 26 (Reuters) – NASA awarded contracts to space firms including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Astrolab to send robotic landers, rovers and drones to support the upcoming lunar exploration missions.
The U.S. space agency said on Tuesday it had awarded Astrolab $219 million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build and deliver lunar terrain vehicles.
Blue Origin was awarded a $188 million contract to deliver the rovers to the moon’s surface using its uncrewed cargo lunar lander, Mark 1.
The contracts are part of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to expand humanity’s footprint in space and support future deep-space exploration.
The agency said it also selected Firefly Aerospace to build the spacecraft that will transport drones from the Earth’s orbit to the moon for its MoonFall mission, which is targeted for launch in 2028.
NASA’s revised plan for Artemis, which was created during President Donald Trump’s first term, involves putting infrastructure, centered on a moon base, and vehicles on the moon’s surface.
NASA’s second Artemis mission launched in April, sending four astronauts around the moon and back as one of a few precursor missions to the first crewed moon landing since 1972.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
