Everything you need to know about the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program
IM-1 Nova-C Odysseus on the Moon. Credit: Intuitive Machines
The Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, commonly referred to as CLPS, is a NASA initiative for private companies to send payloads to the surface of the Moon. The Lunar South Pole is a popular destination for these missions, as there is a presence of frozen water, which could be used as drinking water for astronauts or even as rocket fuel!
Past Missions
Astrobotic’s Peregrine
On January 8, 2024, the first CLPS mission lifted off on the inaugural launch of ULA’s Vulcan rocket. The Peregrine Lunar Lander was built by Astrobotic Technology and had a total payload capacity of 90 kg. This would have been the first American-made lunar lander since Apollo 17 in 1972, but shortly after separation from Vulcan, it developed a propellant leak and was unable to reach our closest celestial neighbor. It burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on January 18, 2024.
Peregrine ahead of launch. Credit: NASA
Intuitive Machine’s IM-1 Nova-C Odysseus
Roughly a month later, on February 15, Intuitive Machine’s Nova-C class Lunar Lander named Odysseus was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This mission would turn out to be a lot more successful than Peregrine, as it landed on the lunar surface on February 22, becoming the first non-hypergolic lunar lander, and the first American-made lunar lander since 1972. Odysseus had a payload capacity of 100 kg, and although a landing strut broke off during landing, the mission was reported as a success.
Odysseus in lunar orbit. Credit: Intuitive Machines
As of writing this article, these are the only missions to be flown so far, but there are a bunch of missions scheduled for the coming years.
Future missions
The Blue Ghost
In November 2024, the first of 2 Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost landers is scheduled to carry 155 kg of payloads to the surface of the moon. Blue Ghost M1 will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9, and it will land at Mare Crisium, where it will study lunar regolith.
Blue Ghost M2 is currently scheduled to launch in 2026, on top of the MLV by Firefly Aerospace, and it will try to land on the far side of the Moon.
Blue Ghost M1 on the Moon. Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Intuitive Machines
In 2025, two more of Intuitive Machine’s landers will head towards the Moon. Their IM-2 Athena lander, launching in January 2025, will bring, among other payloads, the PRIME-1 ice mining experiment to the Shackleton Crater, a location that is permanently shadowed. Here it will look for water ice in the lunar surface, and demonstrate the first proper use of in situ resource utilization (ISRU).
In October 2025, they will launch their IM-3 lander to the Reiner Gamma region, where it will investigate an unexpected magnetic field. Both will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9.
IM-3 on the Moon. Credit: Intuitive Machines
Avenging Peregrine
Astrobotic Technology will also go for a second try, launching their Griffin mission in September 2025, onboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Originally the VIPER rover was supposed to be the main payload, but it was canceled in July 2024. Read more about the VIPER rover and its cancellation in this TWS article.
Griffin lander on the Moon. Credit: Astrobotic Technology
iSpace’s APEX
Last but not least, we have the iSpace APEX 1.0 lunar lander, currently expected to launch in 2026, which will land at the Schrodinger Basin on the far side of the Moon. Among other payloads, it will carry the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment (LuSEE-night), which is supposed to function as a remote radio telescope observatory.
APEX 1.0 on the Moon. Credit: iSpace