Hearing - Leveraging Commercial Innovation for Lunar Exploration: A Review of NASA’s CLPS Initiative
House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics
2025-04-01
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Source: Congress.gov
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Transcript
The Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recesses of the subcommittee at any time. Welcome to today's hearing entitled Leveraging Commercial Innovation for Lunar Exploration, a Review of NASA's CLPS Initiative. I recognize myself for a five minute opening statement. I would like to welcome everyone to today's subcommittee. This hearing is, like our last, is focused on NASA's return to the moon this decade. Today's topic is review of NASA's commercial lunar payload services program, commonly known as CLPS. The world marveled at the stunning imagery captured last month by the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost probe and Intuitive Machines Athena probes, lunar sunrises and sunsets, Earth rises, and even a solar eclipse seen from the surface of the moon. But beyond the beauty was purpose. These missions are advancing scientific discovery and paving the way for American astronauts to return to the moon, and increasingly so in the future. Unlike during the Apollo program, NASA is returning to the moon with the help of commercial and international partners. As we have heard from our last meeting, the Artemis program will be involving NASA purchase services from commercial vendors instead of owning all of its assets itself. One key area where NASA is applying this strategy is by partnering with commercial providers for science missions around the moon and to its surface. There is still much to learn about the moon before we return. Engaging in science missions now will enable our astronauts to conduct better science when they are on the lunar surface. The rationale for the eclipse is simple. Instead of developing its own lunar lander, NASA acquires payload delivery services to the lunar surface. This program also promotes collaboration with U.S. commercial ventures to support NASA's lunar explanation goals, ensuring that the technology and services are deployed and developed domestically.
For the selection process, NASA chooses from a group of U.S.-based providers for missions to all parts of the moon. These providers are responsible for supplying end-to-end services from launch to operation the lander on the lunar surface. Under CLPS, NASA can be one of multiple payloads sent to the moon, allowing companies to fill excess capacity however they deem appropriate. Additionally, CLPS provides an opportunity for the other mission directorates within NASA to prove out technologies before humans return to the moon. However, NASA assumes increased risk by taking this commercial approach. Not every mission has been successful to date, and several instruments have not been successfully tested as a result. We have seen providers go out of business, schedule delays, and cost increases associated with clips. To date, NASA has issued 11 task orders for 50 instruments to be delivered to the lunar surface by 2028. We've now had four Eclipse missions, including two landing attempts in the last month. I will note all those came from Florida's Space Coast. These launches give Congress an opportunity to evaluate whether Eclipse has operated as intended, whether this program should consider directing future changes to the program. The subcommittee will also hear lessons learned from NASA and our commercial providers, exploring whether this innovative approach to partnering with commercial sector could be applied to other agencies and areas as well. We are joined today by three companies that have launched CLPS missions to date, Firefly Aerospace, Aerobatic Technologies, and Intuitive Machines. Their insights into how they have partnered with NASA as well as their future plans will benefit the subcommittee, and I look forward to hearing their feedback and recommendations. I thank all of our witnesses today for joining us, and we will move on to, of course, our comments from our ranking member.
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