Commercial Lunar Payload Services

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to contract transportation services able to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon. CLPS is intended to buy end-to-end payload services between Earth and the lunar surface using fixed priced contracts.[1][2]

The CLPS program is being operated by NASA Headquarter's Science Mission Directorate, in-conjunction with the Human Exploration and Operations and Science Technology Mission Directorates. NASA expects the contractors to provide all activities necessary to safely integrate, accommodate, transport, and operate NASA payloads, including launch vehicles, lunar lander spacecraft, lunar surface systems, Earth re-entry vehicles and associated resources.[2]

In April 2018, NASA issued a Draft Request for Proposal for CLPS.[2] CLPS is starting with an open competition for multiple-award contracts to deliver scientific payloads to the Moon. The first formal solicitation is expected sometime in 2019. In September 2018 the actual CLPS Request for Proposal was issued.[3]

History

NASA has been planning the exploration and use of natural resources of the Moon for many years. A variety of exploration, science, and technology objectives that could be addressed by regularly sending instruments, experiments and other small payloads to the Moon have been identified by NASA.[1] In April 2018, NASA launched the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS) as the first step in the solicitation for flights to the Moon.[1][2][4]

Overview

The competitive nature of the CLPS program is expected to reduce the cost of lunar exploration, accelerate a robotic return to the Moon, sample return, resource prospecting, and promote innovation and growth of related commercial industries.[5] The payload development program is called Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation (DALI), and the payload goals are exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU), and lunar science. The first instruments are expected to be selected by Summer 2019,[2] and the flight opportunities start in 2021.[5][2]

Multiple contracts will be issued, and the early payloads will likely be small because of the limited capacity of the initial commercial landers.[4] The first landers and rovers will be technology demonstrators on hardware such as precision landing/hazard avoidance, power generation (solar and RTGs), in situ resource utilization (ISRU), cryogenic fluid management, autonomous operations and sensing, and advanced avionics, mobility, mechanisms, and materials.[2] This program requires that only US launch vehicles can launch the spacecraft.[2] The mass of the landers and rovers can range from miniature to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb),[6] with a 500 kg (1,100 lb) lander targeted to launch in 2022.[5] The crewed landers that would follow would be much larger, with a mass of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 kilograms.[6]

The Draft Request for Proposal's covering letter states that the contracts will last up to 10 years. As NASA's need to send payloads to the lunar surface (and other cislunar destination) arises it will issue Firm-Fixed Price 'task orders' that the approved prime contractors can bid for. A Scope Of Work will be issued with each task order. The CLPS proposals are being evaluated against five Technical Accessibility Standards.[2]

Interested Parties

On September 4, 2018 the CLPS Solicitation was updated to include a revised list of 'Interested Parties'.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "NASA Expands Plans for Moon Exploration: More Missions, More Science". NASA. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Draft Commercial Lunar Payload Services - CLPS solicitation". Federal Business Opportunities. NASA. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Commercial Lunar Payload Services
    Solicitation Number: 80HQTR18R0011R"    . Federal Business Opportunities. NASA. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  4. 1 2 NASA cancels lunar rover, shifts focus to commercial moon landers. Stephen Clark, Space News. 1 June 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 NASA Expands Plans for Moon Exploration: More Missions, More Science. NASA Press Release. Published by SpaceRef. 3 May 2018.
  6. 1 2 NASA to begin buying rides on commercial lunar landers by year's end. Debra Werner, Space News. 24 May 2018.
  7. ↑ "Commercial Lunar Payload Services - CLPS". Federal Business Opportunities. NASA. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  • Slides from the Industrial Day on May 8, 2018
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