NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program is now seeing more results from the work done by providers to fulfill its task orders in the past few years, though not without challenges. Two robotic lunar landers from different US commercial providers landed on the lunar surface, with one successfully landing upright and starting its mission, and the other communicating from the surface but dealing with an off-nominal landing.
Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines, two of the companies that were eligible for CLPS task orders, are now controlling landers at different sectors of the Moon over 3,000 km apart. The landers touched down within days of each other, while a third lunar lander from Japan is working to reach the Moon on a fuel-efficient low-energy trajectory.