SpaceX also won a deal to serve as a launch contractor for Masten Space Systems, one of the firms awarded a NASA launch deal under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program of that agency. Masten's first lunar mission is expected to take off in 2022, if all is anticipated, and will carry the company's XL-1 lunar lander to the south pole of the Moon with NASA payloads, including science research instruments on board, as well as cargo from commercial travelers.
NASA's CLPS initiative is part of a larger attempt to broaden collaborations with international space firms in order to potentially reduce a expenses by combining services with other private sector and industrial projects. It is also a crucial staging part of NASA's Artemis program, which eventually seeks to bring the first American woman and the next American man to the surface of the Moon by 2024.
The scientific equipment on Masten's Lander will allow the Agency to research the lunar south pole by collecting key data on the location.
The goal of NASA's Artemis III mission is to land in the same region of the Moon's surface, and CLPS landers will enable it to be aware of the conditions and equipped with the tools left in place by certain uncrewed landers.
To date, four lunar lander missions are planned under CLPS, including the flight of Astrobotic's Peregrine Lander in June 2021, Intuitive Machines' shortly after October 2021, Masten's now planned for December 2022, and Astrobotic's VIPER flight of its larger Griffin Lander in 2023. SpaceX has been hired for the development of Intuitive Robots and Masten, while ULA's Vulcan is expected to send Astrobotic's Peregrine to the Moon.
