Lunar Payload Delivery Providers Compared: Intuitive Machines, Firefly, Voyager, Blue Origin and Draper

Five US companies currently hold or fly NASA lunar delivery orders: Intuitive Machines, Firefly Aerospace, Voyager Lunar Systems (formerly Astrobotic), Blue Origin and Draper with ispace-U.S. Two of them have reached the lunar surface: Intuitive Machines in 2024 and 2025, and Firefly in 2025. Next in line are Voyager's Griffin-1 on a Falcon Heavy, targeted for no earlier than November 2026, and Blue Origin's Blue Moon MK1. On 30 June 2026 NASA ordered four more landings for late 2028, worth nearly 600 million US dollars.

This comparison shows which landers each company has flown or is building, which NASA orders they hold and how commercial customers can put a payload on board. All data comes from NASA and the companies. Most lunar landers also carry payloads for other customers, so the providers listed here are the realistic route to the Moon for instruments from universities, agencies and companies. Vehicle profiles are on the Carrier Space vehicle overview, and a delivery request can be sent via cargo transport.

The providers at a glance

Intuitive Machines (Nova-C): landed IM-1 in February 2024 and IM-2 in 2025. Next: IM-3 to Reiner Gamma, IM-4 to Mons Mouton (2027) and a new order for late 2028.
Firefly Aerospace (Blue Ghost): Blue Ghost Mission 1 delivered 10 NASA payloads to Mare Crisium in March 2025. Next: Mission 2 to the far side, Mission 3 to the Gruithuisen Domes (2028), Mission 4 to the South Pole region (2029) and a new order for late 2028.
Voyager Lunar Systems, formerly Astrobotic (Peregrine, Griffin): Peregrine Mission One did not land in 2024. Next: Griffin-1 to Nobile Crater near the South Pole, no earlier than November 2026, and two new deliveries for 2028, including Peregrine-2.
Blue Origin (Blue Moon MK1): uncrewed cargo lander, self-funded demonstration, carrying two NASA payloads to the South Pole region.
Draper with ispace-U.S. (APEX 1.0): one NASA order for a landing in Schrödinger Basin on the far side.

How NASA buys lunar deliveries

Most commercial landers fly under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. NASA selected nine US companies in November 2018 and added five more in November 2019, so 14 vendors are eligible to bid on task orders. CLPS is an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with a cumulative maximum value of 2.6 billion US dollars through 2028, according to NASA.

Each task order covers the full delivery: payload integration, mission operations, the launch from Earth and the landing. The company owns the lander and buys the rocket. NASA encourages companies to carry commercial payloads alongside the NASA instruments. CLPS is now part of NASA's Moon Base Program. The basics are in our CLPS explainer.

Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines flies the Nova-C lander. According to NASA, IM-1 landed in February 2024 and delivered six NASA payloads to Malapert A in the South Pole region, the first CLPS delivery to reach the surface. IM-2 delivered NASA's PRIME-1 ice mining experiment and a Laser Retroreflector Array to Mons Mouton near the South Pole in 2025.

IM-3: four payloads to the Reiner Gamma lunar swirl on the near side, listed by NASA for 2026, including small autonomous rovers and international payloads from South Korea and ESA.
IM-4: six NASA payloads to Mons Mouton, listed for 2027.
New order (June 2026): one delivery for late 2028, worth 148.3 million US dollars.

Firefly Aerospace

Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 landed in Mare Crisium in March 2025 and delivered 10 NASA payloads. According to NASA, it was the company's first delivery and landed successfully on the near side.

Blue Ghost Mission 2: two NASA payloads to the lunar far side, plus a communications and data relay satellite placed in lunar orbit in a collaboration between ESA and NASA.
Blue Ghost Mission 3: six experiments to the Gruithuisen Domes, volcanic features on the near side, targeted for 2028.
Blue Ghost Mission 4: awarded in July 2025 for 176.7 million US dollars; two rovers, including one from the Canadian Space Agency, and three instruments to the South Pole region, targeted for 2029.
New order (June 2026): one delivery for late 2028, worth 144.2 million US dollars.

Voyager Lunar Systems (formerly Astrobotic)

Voyager Technologies completed its acquisition of Astrobotic in 2026; the Pittsburgh company now operates as Voyager Lunar Systems. Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission One launched in 2024 but suffered an anomaly and did not land; it reentered over the South Pacific on 18 January 2024.

Griffin-1: an infrastructure-class lander of 1,265 kg that will deliver more than 455 kg of cargo to Nobile Crater near the South Pole. It carries 10 payloads from six countries, including Astrolab's FLIP rover, which NASA calls the largest commercial payload ever delivered to the Moon. Griffin-1 finished environmental testing at NASA JPL in 2026 and is to launch on a Falcon Heavy, targeted for no earlier than November 2026.
New orders (June 2026): two deliveries for 297.9 million US dollars in total. Voyager says one of them is Peregrine-2, scheduled to launch in 2028 to the Gruithuisen Domes.

Blue Origin

Blue Moon Mark 1, also called Endurance, is an uncrewed cargo lander that Blue Origin funds itself as a demonstration for NASA's Artemis landing systems. It completed thermal vacuum testing in NASA Johnson's Chamber A in 2026. NASA says it will demonstrate precision landing, cryogenic propulsion and autonomous navigation, and will carry two CLPS payloads to the South Pole region: the SCALPSS plume cameras and a Laser Retroreflector Array. Lessons from MK1 feed into the larger crewed Blue Moon Mark 2.

Draper and ispace-U.S.

Draper received one CLPS task order in 2022. Its team flies the ispace-U.S. APEX 1.0 lander to Schrödinger Basin on the far side. The payloads include long-lived seismometers, a drill to measure heat flow and probes for the electrical conductivity of the subsurface, according to NASA.

What the June 2026 orders show

NASA's 30 June 2026 awards ask all three companies to use updated versions of landers that have already flown. Each of the four missions carries the same three NASA instruments: SCALPSS stereo cameras, a Laser Retroreflector Array and the LETS radiation spectrometer. NASA explains that flying identical instruments on many landers builds a network of environmental data and location markers. With these orders, NASA counts 17 lunar surface deliveries across multiple providers. NASA also announced plans to request landers for a power and avionics demonstration, another science manifest and a South Pole optical imager, and to seek a lunar communication and navigation relay constellation.

How to fly a commercial payload to the Moon

Pick the destination first: near side, far side or South Pole decides which flights are possible. Each mission above has a fixed landing site.
Contact several providers: CLPS providers can sell remaining capacity to other customers. Prices are not published; NASA only publishes the value of its task orders.
Plan for surface operations: ask about power, data relay and how long the lander survives. Far side missions need a relay, which is why Blue Ghost Mission 2 brings one.
Clear export control early: US landers fall under US export rules. See ITAR and EAR explained.
Budget for delays: several lunar missions have moved by a year or more. Our own advice: keep your payload flexible across two providers. See launch delays.

FAQ

Which companies can deliver payloads to the Moon?

Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace have landed payloads. Voyager Lunar Systems (formerly Astrobotic), Blue Origin and Draper with ispace-U.S. have landers in preparation with NASA payloads on board.

What is the next commercial Moon landing?

Voyager's Griffin-1, targeted to launch on a Falcon Heavy no earlier than November 2026, and Blue Origin's Blue Moon MK1, which NASA expected to fly in 2026.

How much does it cost to send a payload to the Moon?

The companies do not publish prices per kilogram. NASA's June 2026 awards were 148.3 million US dollars for one Intuitive Machines delivery, 144.2 million for one Firefly delivery and 297.9 million for two Astrobotic deliveries, each carrying several payloads.

Can non-US organisations fly payloads on CLPS landers?

Yes. CLPS providers are US companies, but their landers carry international payloads, for example from ESA, South Korea and the Canadian Space Agency.

How many CLPS landers have reached the Moon?

Three by NASA's timeline: IM-1 in 2024, and Blue Ghost Mission 1 and IM-2 in 2025.

Sources

Cover image: The Moon setting over the Earth's limb, photographed by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station in 2014. Credit: NASA