The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and forms a key plank of the broader Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon before eventually sending astronauts to Mars.
The upcoming mission – Firefly’s fifth under the CLPS program – will mark the first time NASA deploys multiple rovers and a range of stationary instruments to the same lunar site.
Scheduled to land in 2029, it will focus on the unexplored and permanently shadowed regions of the moon’s South Pole where the potential for water ice and other vital resources could support future human exploration.
“This is a defining moment in NASA’s shift to commercial partnerships for lunar operations,” said Joel Kearns, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration. “Deliveries like this provide the critical knowledge needed for long-term lunar sustainability and progress towards Mars.”
What the mission will carry
The payload includes some of NASA’s most advanced tools for surface analysis, including:
- MoonRanger, an autonomous microrover developed by Carnegie Mellon University and Astrobotic, designed to study hydrogen-bearing volatiles in the lunar soil.
- Stereo cameras for plume surface studies which will monitor the effects of rocket exhaust on lunar dust as landers touch down.
- A laser retroreflector array, which will serve as a permanent lunar landmark to assist in precise laser distance measurements for decades to come.
- A CSA rover, developed by the Canadian Space Agency, equipped with a thermal imaging radiometer contributed by NASA, aimed at exploring deep shadowed craters and surviving the extreme cold of a lunar night.
- And a laser ionisation mass spectrometer, designed by Switzerland’s University of Bern, which will provide detailed grain-by-grain chemical analysis of the lunar regolith using a Firefly-designed robotic arm and titanium shovel.
This marks Firefly Aerospace’s fourth scheduled lunar mission, following its successful 2025 near-side landing that delivered 10 NASA payloads. The company is also planning lunar deliveries in 2026 and 2028, including missions to the far side and the enigmatic Gruithuisen Domes.
The announcement comes at a time when Australia is stepping up its own involvement in the Artemis program. As part of a landmark collaboration signed in 2021 under the Artemis Accords, Australia has committed to supporting NASA’s lunar ambitions, including developing a semi-autonomous moon rover that will contribute to future resource extraction and regolith analysis.
The Australian Space Agency, in partnership with local companies such as Fleet Space Technologies and AROSE (Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth), is progressing development of its “Trailblazer” rover, intended to collect lunar soil for NASA to study as part of future Artemis missions possibly as early as the late-2020s.
As NASA continues its shift towards leveraging commercial providers under the CLPS initiative, it’s fostering a burgeoning lunar economy. Regular deliveries of scientific instruments and exploration hardware are not only accelerating scientific discovery but also laying the groundwork for infrastructure that will support long-duration astronaut missions.
“CLPS missions like this allow us to better understand the lunar environment and prepare to live and work on the moon,” said Adam Schlesinger, NASA’s CLPS program manager. “They’re vital stepping stones to Mars.”
For Australia, this represents a unique opportunity to align domestic capability development with real international missions. The technologies and experience gained through the Artemis partnership will not only support allied space exploration goals but could also stimulate local high-tech manufacturing, launch services and deep-space operations expertise.