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NASA opens $2.6 billion in contract services for Moon to Mars missions

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6 years ago

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“We are going,” is an important part NASA’s motto for its return to the Moon, and to get there, the space agency will need corporate partners. As part of carrying out the private sector integration requirements of White House Space Policy Directive 1, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced today at 2 pm EST the nine companies the agency has selected to compete for $2.6 billion in contracts to support its Moon to Mars mission. These contracts will be geared to filling the needs of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program over the next ten years of its development.

https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1067495719836110850

Prior to the announcement, Bridenstine spoke on The Hill TV’s “Rising” program, emphasizing the purpose of the Space Policy Directive’s mission to build the capabilities of not only returning to the Moon, but stay as a sustained presence. In his opening remarks, he further honed in on the major difference in NASA’s current direction for obtaining new capabilities. “We’re gonna buy the service,” he cheered. As the event continued, he and Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, detailed the numerous technical capabilities required for the Moon mission that the private companies will be competing to develop.

Here’s the break down of the space agency’s newly announced partners:

Astrobotic Technology: A Pittsburgh-based company focused on flying hardware systems into space for companies, governments, and universities. The company is currently developing a “Peregrine Lander” aimed at orbital and surface operations for any lunar destination.

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Deep Space Systems: A Colorado-based company focused on systems engineering for supporting the design, development, integration, testing, and operations of science and exploration spacecraft. The company currently subcontracts with other major contractors in the field of space exploration such as Lockheed Martin and NASA.

Draper: A Cambridge-based company focused on developing general engineered systems for corporate, government, and academic solutions. Their Moon work will focus on providing payload services.

Firefly Aerospace: An Austin-based company focused on economical and convenienct access to space for small payloads via reliable launch vehicles. Their priority is providing low-cost rocket access to low Earth orbit (LEO).

Intuitive Machines: A Houston-based company focused on cradle to grave aerospace engineering development, integration, and testing services along with a unique set of aerospace. Some of its current technology developments include a universal reentry vehicle and a lunar lander.

Lockheed Martin: An industry giant with a long, established history of involvement with NASA and human spaceflight. The company will provide any number of contributions towards NASA’s mission to the Moon.

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Maston Space Systems: A Mojave-based company focused on reusable rocket technology and reliable planetary landers for the Earth, Moon, Mars, and beyond. The company previously competed and succeeded through two funding levels in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge X Prize in 2009.

Moon Express: A Cape Canaveral-based company dedicated to expanding commercial opportunities in general on the Moon. The company has previously worked with NASA to develop Moon commercial cargo transporation capabilities and was the first private company authorized by the US government to land on the Moon.

Orbit Beyond: A New Jersey-based company building spacecraft bound for the Moon. [no link available]

The White House Space Policy Directive 1, signed December 11, 2017, revised US national space policy to integrate NASA’s programs with private sector partners to return to the Moon before continuing on to human exploration of Mars. As part of a push to continue American leadership in space, the Directive instructs NASA to develop a flexible deep space infrastructure to support the increasing complexity of missions. The agency currently partners with the private sector for other missions, including human transport to the International Space Station (ISS) wherein SpaceX and Boeing are developing capsules for that purpose, and the Directive expands that to include deep space missions.

A layout of NASA’s Moon to Mars mission. | Credit: NASA

The Space Policy Directive was born from the recommendations provided during the first meeting of the new National Space Council, a group under the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Space Commerce. During Council meetings, US government officials from civilian and military space along with space industry leaders such as SpaceX and Boeing, as well as other significant public and private institutions, hold discussions with high ranking members of the US government, the Vice President being the Chairman. The purpose is to help overall comprehension of the challenges involved in making significant progress in space exploration and propose viable policy solutions.

The outline published by NASA to fulfill the Space Policy Directive, the “Exploration Campaign“, focuses on three core domains for development: low Earth orbit, lunar orbit and surface, and Mars, with the option of other deep space objectives being integrated. Under this framework, NASA hopes to have its next rocket combination, the Space Launch System and Orion capsule, fly to the Moon by 2020 with crewed flights planned for 2023. Direct support to the ISS will end by 2025.

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Accidental computer geek, fascinated by most history and the multiplanetary future on its way. Quite keen on the democratization of space. | It's pronounced day-sha, but I answer to almost any variation thereof.

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Tesla’s new Model S and X spotted, but they leave a lot to be desired

The Model S and Model X testing mules spotted by The Kilowatts have few minor visual changes.

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3 hours ago

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May 23, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has been hinting for a few months now that the flagship Model S and Model X would be getting some attention in 2025 as the vehicles continue to be sold in extremely low volumes.

Both models seem to be under the knife, especially as their newest versions were spotted in California earlier this week.

However, images of the vehicles seem to show that Tesla is not planning a major overhaul, which begs the question: why even do it in the first place?

Tesla makes a decision on the future of its flagship Model S and Model X

The Model S and Model X are grouped with the Cybertruck in Tesla’s quarterly delivery releases, and Q1 saw just 12,881 units of the three cars delivered. The Cybertruck likely made up the majority of this number, as some outlets reported around 6,400 deliveries of the all-electric pickup in Q1.

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This is unconfirmed.

The Model S and Model X have stuck around for “sentimental reasons,” according to CEO Elon Musk, who said back in 2021:

“I mean, they’re very expensive, made in low volume. To be totally frank, we’re continuing to make them more for sentimental reasons than anything else. They’re really of minor importance to the future.”

However, the cars seem to be in need of a serious refresh. As Tesla changed up the exterior aesthetic on both the Model 3 and Model Y, recent images captured of the Model X by The Kilowatts seem to show this is not the strategy with the Model X or Model S:

As we can see, the overall aesthetic of the X, if this is what Tesla plans to release, has literally no changes from a purely visual standpoint. There is the addition of the front bumper camera, which was first implemented on the Cybercab unveiled in October 2024, and then on the new Model Y this year.

There are some new 20″ wheels, and the interior has been fitted with ambient lighting.

The Model S looked to be relatively the same, other than these few hardware changes, including a rear diffuser on this Plaid that was spotted:

While these changes are welcome and should be beneficial, they don’t seem like they will encourage major sales growth, which might be something Tesla is okay with.

Admitting the two cars are low volume and not contributors to the company’s long-term goals, Musk is likely willing to just upgrade things to make these more compatible and better functioning with the Full Self-Driving suite.

Earlier this year, VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said the S and X were not going anywhere and would get “some love” before the end of 2025:

“Just give it a minute. We’ll get there. The upgrade a couple of years ago was bigger than most people thought in terms of architecture and structure of the car got a lot better, too. But, we’ll give it some love later this year and make sure it gets a little bit…you know, with the stuff we’ve been putting in 3 and Y. Obviously, with 3 and Y, the higher volume stuff, you’ve gotta focus there.”

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It seems these strategies have held true — the S and X appear to be getting what the 3 and Y got with the ambient lighting and front bumper camera (at least on the Model Y).

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Tesla set for ‘golden age of autonomous’ as Robotaxi nears, ‘dark chapter’ ends: Wedbush

Tesla is set to win big from the launch of the Robotaxi platform, Wedbush’s Dan Ives said.

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4 hours ago

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May 23, 2025

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Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to kick off its own “golden age of autonomous growth” as its Robotaxi platform nears launch and a “dark chapter” for the company has evidently come to a close, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

Ives has jostled his price target on Tesla shares a few times already this year, usually switching things up as the market sways and the company’s near-term outlook changes. His price target on Tesla has gone from $550 to $315 to $350 back to $500 this year, with the newest adjustment coming from a note released early on Friday.

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As CEO Elon Musk has essentially started to dwindle down his commitment to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) altogether, Ives believes that Tesla’s “dark chapter” has come to a close:

“First lets address the elephant in the room…2025 started off as a dark chapter for Musk and Tesla as Elon’s role in the Trump Administration and DOGE created a life of its own which created brand damage and a black cloud over the story….but importantly those days are in the rear-view mirror as we are now seeing a recommitted Musk leading Tesla as CEO into this autonomous and robotics future ahead with his days in the White House now essentially over.”

Ives believes Tesla’s launch of Robotaxi should be the company’s way to unlock at least $1 trillion in value alone, especially as the Trump White House will fast-track the key initiatives the automaker needs to get things moving in the right direction:

“The $1 trillion of AI valuation will start to get unlocked in the Tesla story and we believe the march to a $2 trillion valuation for TSLA over the next 12 to 18 months has now begun in our view with FSD and autonomous penetration of Tesla’s installed base and the acceleration of Cybercab in the US representing the golden goose.”

There are some concerns moving forward, but none of which relate to the AI/autonomous play that Ives primarily focuses on within the Friday note. Instead, they are related to demand in both Europe and Asia, as Ives said, “there is still wood to chop to turn around Model Y growth” in both of those markets.

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Nevertheless, the big focus for Ives is evidently the launch of Robotaxi and the potential of the entire autonomous division that Tesla plans to offer as a ride-sharing service in the coming months. Ives also believes a 50 percent or more penetration of Full Self-Driving could totally transform the financial model and margins of Tesla moving ahead.

Aware of the setbacks Tesla could encounter, Ives still believes that Tesla will establish itself as “the true autonomous winner over” and that investors will recognize the AI vision the company has been so bullish on.

Ives pushed his price target to $500. Tesla shares are down just under 1% at the time of publication. They are trading at $337.88 at 11:45 on the East Coast.

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SpaceX Starship gets FAA nod for ninth test flight

The FAA has given the green light for Starship’s ninth test flight.

Published

23 hours ago

on

May 22, 2025

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(Credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX has received FAA approval for the ninth test flight of the Starship rocket. The approval was delayed due to the federal agency finishing its comprehensive safety review of the eighth flight earlier this year.

The FAA said in a statement that it has determined that SpaceX has “satisfactorily addressed the causes of the mishap, and therefore, the Starship vehicle can return to flight.”

The eighth test flight occurred back on March 6. SpaceX completed a successful liftoff of Starship and the Super Heavy Booster, before the two entered stage separation a few minutes after launch.

Starship Flight 8: SpaceX nails Super Heavy booster catch but loses upper stage

The booster returned and was caught by the chopsticks on the launch pad, completing the second successful booster catch in the program’s history. However, SpaceX lost contact with Starship in the upper atmosphere.

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The ship broke up and reentered the atmosphere over Florida and the Bahamas.

The debris situation caused the FAA to initiate a mishap investigation:

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The FAA said it will verify that SpaceX implements all the corrective actions on Flight 9 that it discovered during the mishap investigation.

There is no current confirmed launch window, but the earliest it could take off from Starbase is Tuesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. local time.

To prevent any injuries and potentially limit any damage, the FAA has stayed in contact with various countries that could be impacted if another loss of vehicle occurs:

“The FAA is in close contact and collaboration with the United Kingdom, Turks & Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Mexico, and Cuba as the agency continues to monitor SpaceX’s compliance with all public safety and other regulatory requirements.”

The agency has also stated that the Aircraft Hazard Area (AHA) is approximately 1,600 nautical miles and extends eastward from the Starbase, Texas, launch site through the Straits of Florida, including the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos.

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For flight 8, the AHA was just 885 nautical miles.

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