NASA has just announced that it will outsource Next Moon Lander to a private company for the first time in its history

NASA's next lunar science experiments will arrive on the moon via a spacecraft built by one of nine private companies – a first for one of the agency's scientific missions.

In an announcement on Thursday, the space agency named organizations that are now eligible to submit scientific and technological burdens to the lunar surface.

These include long-time players in the aerospace industry, such as Lockheed Martin, but these are mostly newer names in new cultures, such as Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic and Masten Space Systems in Mojave, California. California.

NASA's director, Jim Bridenstine, said in May that the commercial lunar payload service program was a priority. Leveraging commercial capabilities would allow more frequent and affordable access to the lunar surface.

"More missions, more science," promised a press release on the SPDP program.

NASA is also continuing the trend towards public-private partnerships for exploration. Under President George W. Bush, the companies won contracts to transport freight to the International Space Station.

The commercial crew program, developed under President Barack Obama, will allow companies to transport human crews.

The missions of the SPDP would constitute the first partnership of this kind in distant spaces. The first could fly as early as next year and NASA hopes to send two payloads each year for the next 10 years.

The type of instruments that NASA hopes to send is not yet clear, but the first call for proposals should be launched in the coming weeks or months.

Most of the companies involved have never piloted spaceships of this complexity and scope, and Bridenstine acknowledged that some of the CLPS missions would probably not result in a soft landing on the lunar surface. .

"It's a venture-type venture," he told reporters on Thursday. "In the end, the risk is high, but the return is also very high for a low investment."

"It's a great experience," said Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy administrator in charge of science.

The relatively small and inexpensive payloads delivered via the CLPS program would be followed by more traditional medium and large class missions, said Bridenstine, including a possible crewed mission on the Moon.

President Trump has designated the sending of American astronauts to the moon as the goal of his administration. Its Space Policy Directive 1, signed last December, asks NASA to work with the private sector to return to the moon en route to a longer-term Mars mission.

But no American spacecraft has landed on the moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972, and it is exactly 50 years since NASA sent a robotic mission to the lunar surface.

Earlier this year, NASA shocked scientists by canceling the mission Resource Prospector, the only US lunar vehicle currently under development.

Yet, the only natural satellite of the Earth is being explored by other countries. Chinese missions Chang & # 39; e 4 and 5, which are expected to deliver a rover on the Moon and return rock samples from the surface, are expected to be launched next year.

India and Israel also plan to launch lunar satellites next year.

The lunar geologist of Notre Dame, Clive Neal, chairman emeritus of the independent group of analysis of lunar exploration, has been cautiously optimistic about the scientific prospects of the SPDP program.

Many Moon researchers were disappointed with the cancellation of the Resource Prospector mission – "I still am," Neal said.

But he was encouraged by the possibility that partnerships with the aerospace industry make the Moon more accessible.

Zurbuchen said Thursday that a mobile lunar laboratory remained one of NASA's goals for moon exploration, although such a mission would likely be developed according to a more traditional process.

He also stated that NASA hoped to be one of many customers providing payloads for these trade missions. Carpooling to the moon – perhaps with academics or another company – should reduce costs, he said.

The SPDP announcement comes as NASA conducts safety reviews of two of its major private partners, SpaceX and Boeing.

Both companies were mandated to send astronauts to the International Space Station, but they suffered setbacks and delays in the development of their spacecraft.

Especially SpaceX has attracted attention after its founder, Elon Musk, took a glass of marijuana and drank whiskey on a podcast. None of these companies are among those selected for SPDP eligibility.

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