The Moon's South Pole Becomes the Launchpad of a New Era

At the Moon's south pole, where eternal shadow coexists with almost continuous sunlight and water ice may be hiding in the craters, a quiet but grand preparation is unfolding. In early November 2026, NASA took several steps at once that turn the dream of a permanent lunar base from plans into concrete work. These are not just more contracts — this is one of the first real stages in humanity's transformation into a spacefaring civilization.

Eight companies — Blue Origin, SpaceX, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ispace-U.S., Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems and Voyager Technologies — have been granted the right to take part in the new CLPS 2 program. It is a ten-year contract with a total ceiling of 10 billion dollars. The companies will compete to deliver scientific instruments, technologies and infrastructure elements to the lunar surface. In parallel, NASA raised the ceiling of the existing CLPS 1.0 contract from 2,6 to 4,2 billion dollars to support the upcoming missions.

Separately, the agency awarded about 1,3 billion dollars in transportation orders. Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin and Impulse Space will handle the delivery of spacecraft, robots and equipment into cislunar space. SpaceX has been tasked with launching communications satellites on Starship in 2028. This demonstration will help create a network that will link future astronauts and the base itself with Earth.

Particular interest is drawn by the nuclear rover PROMISE — Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration. It is being built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory from spare parts and test models of the Mars rovers Curiosity and Perseverance. The rover will receive a radioisotope generator that will allow it to operate through the long lunar night and in permanently shadowed craters. Blue Origin received a contract worth 94 million dollars (with an option for another 140 million) to deliver PROMISE to the south pole at the end of 2028. The mission is designed for 18 months: the rover will study the surface and subsurface, search for resources and help select sites for future infrastructure.

NASA also selected companies to develop elements of solar towers, energy storage systems and wireless power transmission. All of these are the building blocks of the future base at the south pole.

And one more important detail. At the MAX POWER event at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA announced a student competition with a prize fund of one million dollars. Teams of high school students and students from American universities will propose solutions to real engineering challenges: power supply, construction, life support systems, mobility, communications and safety. Registration is open until January 2027.

All of this adds up to a single picture. Robots are already preparing to scout the terrain. Communications satellites are to provide a reliable channel. Cargo ships from various companies will regularly deliver equipment. And the nuclear rover, assembled from Martian heritage, will set off where solar panels cannot reach.

The Moon remains the same celestial body that has been circling the Earth for billions of years. But now, around it and on its surface, a complex, coordinated system is beginning to take shape. Humanity is taking only the very first, but already quite tangible steps toward becoming a civilization capable of living and working beyond its home planet. Every new contract, every chosen contractor and every engineering challenge for students is another element in a vast mosaic where everything is incredibly precisely connected: from nuclear generators operating in eternal darkness to communications that span hundreds of thousands of kilometers. We live in an amazing world where cosmic processes and human efforts are gradually converging at a single point — at the cold south pole of our nearest neighbor.