9/14/2023 - Written By Kimberly Siversen Burke
As threats of FY 2024 budget cuts lurk in the shadows of haunting GAO reports, recent awards may hint at which NASA programs and players will be spared. And despite the incoming fire for its management of the SLS program, some NASA commercial efforts continue to gain momentum.
Take Tuesday’s announcement of an $18M award to Firefly Aerospace. The contract marks the third for Firefly, totaling ~$250M in wins from NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. NASA established CLPS in 2018 as a public-private partnership aimed at delivering payloads (not people) to the Moon.
Three of the original nine CLPS participants – Astrobotic, Firefly, and Intuitive Machines – have pretty much eCLPSed their competitors. As CLPS Task Order Vendors, they are all leading upcoming lunar missions fueled by steady increases in their award amounts since 2019.
But can this continue?
With SLS-cost shaming hitting record highs, the CLPS program could come under increased scrutiny. Our CLPS-Take:
The good:
• CLPS contracts have a cumulative max value of $2.6B through 2028, with only about $1.1B obligated so far.
• In a way, recent criticism of NASA’s SLS budget underscores the original vision of CLPS and highlights the importance of collaborations between NASA and the private sector.
The bad:
• CLPS funding falls under NASA’s Planetary Science budget, which in FY23 was allocated $3.2B of the agency’s total $25.4B kitty. Important to note that Planetary Science experienced one of the lowest budget increases from 2022 to 2023, with only 1% growth, as opposed to Commercial LEO Development, which saw a 120% increase.
The maybe:
• Recent advances in lunar exploration (thanks, Chandrayaan-3) ahead of Intuitive Machine’s first CLPS launch this November might be just the spark needed to reignite enthusiasm for Moon missions.
SOURCE: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/firefly-awarded-18-million-nasa-contract-to-provide-radio-frequency-calibration-services-from-lunar-orbit-301924731.html