Commercial Lunar Payload Services
The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, carried out by NASA, is designed to contract private companies to dispatch robotic landers and rovers to the Moon, focusing particularly on the area near the lunar south pole. These missions are key in searching for moon resources, testing the practicality of using lunar materials (known as in situ resource utilization or ISRU), and advancing lunar science to aid the Artemis program, which aims to bring humans back to the Moon.
CLPS works on a model where NASA pays a fixed price for the full range of services required to get payloads from Earth to the Moon’s surface. After 2025, the program is set to evolve to include the delivery of heavier payloads. The program operates within NASA's framework, collaborating across multiple directorates, including the Science Mission Directorate, Human Exploration and Operations, and Space Technology. The responsibility falls on the contracted companies to manage the full life cycle of NASA payloads. This includes safe integration, accommodation, transportation, operations, and even Earth re-entry arrangements when necessary. To date, eight missions have been arranged through CLPS, notwithstanding two missions that were removed from the program – one due to a revoked contract and another resulting from a contracting company’s bankruptcy.
NASA has been strategizing on how to exploit the Moon's natural resources for several years, identifying a multitude of goals associated with scientific exploration and technology that can be achieved through sending payloads to the Moon on a regular basis. The need for a program like CLPS became clear when NASA cancelled the Resource Prospector rover study in April 2018, signaling a shift to commercial services for future lunar exploration. The first call for proposals for the CLPS was announced in April 2018, with a draft request initially put forth, after which a formal solicitation was issued in September 2018.
Axiom Space, an American company that develops space infrastructure, was established in Houston, Texas in 2016 by Michael T. Suffredini, a former International Space Station (ISS) program manager, and Kam Ghaffarian, an engineer and seasoned space industry entrepreneur. Embarking on a historic journey, Axiom launched its first private crewed spaceflight to the ISS in 2022, marking a significant milestone for commercial space travel. The company has set ambitious goals to build and manage the first-ever commercial space station by the late 2020s.
Employing a team with exceptional experience, including former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and renowned astronauts like Michael Lopez-Alegria, Peggy Whitson, and Brent W. Jett Jr., Axiom is committed to pioneering private human spaceflights. They cater to both government-funded and commercial astronauts, providing opportunities for research, manufacturing, and exploration in space.
In 2020, NASA chose Axiom to contribute the first commercial module to the ISS, a feature of NASA's Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships. This collaborative venture aims for long-term exploration and habitation beyond Earth's orbit. Axiom arranged with SpaceX to utilize their Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft for transporting commercial astronauts to the ISS, a mission successfully executed in April 2022. Axiom, which continues to grow and had around 110 employees as of early 2021, operates from its primary offices in Houston and a secondary location in Los Angeles.
Space technology encompasses a range of tools utilized in the exploration and utilization of outer space, including but not restricted to spacecraft, satellites, space stations, and launch vehicles. Moreover, it involves deep-space communication, in-space propulsion techniques, and necessary infrastructure, equipment, and procedural knowledge. Everyday services on Earth, such as weather reporting, environmental monitoring, GPS systems, satellite television, and some forms of long-distance communication, are heavily dependent on this space-based infrastructure. The scientific realms of astronomy and Earth science greatly profit from advancements in space technology, and often innovations linked to space advancement find their uses in various other sectors of the economy.
Delving into the origins of space technology, it was the Soviet Union that first achieved the milestone of launching technology into space with the deployment of Sputnik 1 in 1957, a satellite that orbited the Earth collecting valuable data on the ionosphere's electron density, as well as temperature and pressure readings. Following this, in 1961, the Soviet Union again broke new ground with the successful execution of the first manned spaceflight, Vostok 1, which carried a young cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin. The mission was largely automated due to uncertainties about the human body's reaction to weightlessness. In addition, the Soviet Luna 2 probe was the first to impact the Moon in 1959, and the Luna 3 probe provided the inaugural photographs of the Moon's far side that same year. Significantly, on December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8, including Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, achieved the historical feat of becoming the first humans to orbit another celestial body.