NextSTEP-3 B: Moon Base Demonstrations
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NASA’s Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate is seeking innovative ideas from industry partners through a new solicitation appendix under the NextSTEP-3 Omnibus Broad Agency Announcement.
Appendix B: Moon Base Demonstrations calls for industry-led demonstrations, risk reduction, and special topic activities that enable an enduring human presence on the lunar surface. NASA’s Moon Base, located in the lunar South Pole region, will serve as the premier proving ground for deep space exploration, empowering scientific discovery and the development of advanced space technologies. To accelerate phased implementation of the Moon Base, NASA is working with its partners to bridge the gap between technology development and mission operations.
This solicitation seeks industry proposals for concept demonstrations, risk reduction opportunities, and studies that address Moon Base architecture gaps. Awards will focus on the integration, demonstration, and maturation of concepts beyond component technology development. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Carlos García-Galán, Moon Base program manager, announced this new opportunity during a discussion with media on Tuesday, June 30. NASA anticipates the solicitation will be posted to the System for Awards Management in early July.
The solicitation’s first directed topic call will be on surface power. Follow-on directed topic calls will solicit innovations in other topic areas listed below.
How 🚀 NASA Covers It
RELEASE26-053NASA Headquarters NASA announced Tuesday the selection of three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines will deliver NASA science payloads to the lunar surface as the agency builds the first outpost on another celestial world. “These new awards to our commercial partners, totaling nearly $600 million to land more missions on the Moon with science payloads, demonstrate our commitment to accelerating our effort to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface, and give us more opportunity to develop the skills we need to prosper there,” said Lori Glaze, associate administrator for the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
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