Firefly Aerospace said on Tuesday it has secured a $176.7 million NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract to deliver five NASA payloads to the Moon’s South Pole in 2029, marking another step toward expanding private sector participation in U.S. lunar exploration. The mission, dubbed Blue Ghost Mission 4, will use Firefly’s Elytra Dark orbital vehicle and Blue Ghost lunar lander to deploy two rovers and three scientific instruments aimed at evaluating lunar resources, radiation and thermal conditions critical for future human exploration.
In a pivotal shift for U.S. space policy, NASA has been increasingly turning to private companies such as Firefly to deliver critical payloads and technologies to the Moon, a strategy designed to accelerate deep space exploration by leveraging commercial efficiency and cost savings.
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