NASA plans to award three more CLPS task orders this year, including an orbiter imaging service to replace the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Executives from Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines said they expect the awards to be made by the end of the year.

Two of the awards will fund lander missions, which have comprised nearly all CLPS missions since 2019, while the third will provide orbital imaging.

NASA developed LRO in the 2000s for the Vision for Space Exploration; launched in 2009, it has operated under an extended mission through 2028 and continues to return data.

The spacecraft is aging, and a 2022 Lunar Exploration Analysis Group report noted that a next‑generation long‑lived orbiter with modern instruments is overdue.

NASA has not disclosed plans for a successor to LRO, and details of upcoming CLPS awards are not publicly released.

Firefly announced in 2025 its intention to offer a commercial lunar imaging service called Ocula, using cameras mounted on its Elytra spacecraft that will fly with Blue Ghost lander missions.

Intuitive Machines manages the high‑resolution camera on LRO and the ShadowCam instrument on South Korea’s Danuri orbiter.

Both companies have backlogs of four CLPS lander missions each, including the CS‑8 task order awarded in June that carries a standardized instrument suite for two landers operated by Astrobotic.

Firefly’s chief executive said the CS‑8 mission aims to demonstrate rapid, repeatable access to the lunar surface, executing the flight in half the time of its first landing, and to use a near‑build‑to‑print lander design.

Intuitive Machines’ chief executive noted a proposal for the CS‑8 task order includes a 26‑month schedule to produce a standardized lander and that the company is considering building two Nova‑D landers in parallel to prepare for a potential second award in 2029.

Altemus said his company has added 75,000 square feet of production space in Houston to construct landers and a constellation of five lunar data relay satellites.

Kim said Firefly has more than quadrupled its cleanroom capacity, giving it extra capacity to take on additional CLPS missions.

The companies are preparing for a new CLPS 2.0 contract with a maximum value of $10 billion over ten years, with an optional five‑year extension that could raise the total to $15 billion; proposals are due at the end of June.

Both firms are developing larger landers, with Intuitive Machines working on a three‑engine configuration for its Nova‑D that could deliver up to one metric ton to the surface, and Firefly planning modular landers capable of carrying several metric tons.

The upcoming awards and the planned replacement of LRO reflect NASA’s effort to transition from bespoke missions to a scalable infrastructure supporting a sustained lunar presence.