Posted: Tue, Dec 4, 2018, 5:04 PM ET (2204 GMT)
NASA announced Thursday the selection of nine companies eligible for future contracts to transport payloads to the moon. The companies, ranging from Lockheed Martin to small startups, were selected for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, under which NASA will buy payload space on commercial landers these companies will develop for scientific instruments and other payloads. While the maximum value of all the contracts is $2.6 billion over 10 years, for now each company will receive only a small amount of funding to develop a payload users' guide, and will then be eligible to compete for task orders under CLPS to fly those payloads.
