NASA said that it anticipates the need for small and mid-size lunar landers to "enable a variety of science investigations and larger technology demonstration payloads that will meet science objectives and human exploration goals".
Future payloads could include rovers, power sources, science experiments and technology to be infused in NASA's Artemis program, which aims to send the first woman and next man to the moon by 2024.
"Our commercial partners are helping us to advance lunar science in an unprecedented way," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.
"As we enable broader opportunities for commercial providers through CLPS, we're enlarging our capabilities to do novel measurements and technology development scientists have long wanted to do at the moon."
The CLPS contracts on offer are indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity with a combined maximum contract value of $2.6 billion with performance through 2028.
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