Commercial Lunar Payload Services
NASA has a special program called Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS. This program asks companies to send robots to the Moon. These robots, like small landers and rovers, go mostly to the Moon's south pole. There, they look for things we can use, try out new ways to use Moon resources and learn more about the Moon. This helps another NASA program called Artemis.
The companies that work with NASA have to do everything needed to send things to the Moon and make sure they work there. This includes getting a rocket ready, landing on the Moon, and making sure everything works on the Moon's surface. NASA pays a set price for these services. After 2025, they also want to send bigger things to the Moon.
CLPS is managed by different parts of NASA. So far, they have made deals for eight missions. Two missions had problems because one company got an award but then it was taken back, and another company could not do it because they ran out of money.
NASA has wanted to explore the Moon and its resources for a long time. They have many ideas for things to send to the Moon for science and learning. A few years ago, NASA planned to send a rover called Resource Prospector, but they stopped the plan. In 2018, NASA decided to use the CLPS program to keep exploring the Moon with the help of businesses. They asked companies to tell them how they could help, and after some time, they started choosing companies for the missions.
NASA has special competitions called the Centennial Challenges. These contests are for people in the United States who are not in the government and make new space technology.
The competitions are named Centennial to remember 100 years since the Wright brothers first flew their airplane in 1903. These brothers did something very important for airplanes, and NASA's contests are like that too.
In history, there were other big contests for making technology. For example, people won prizes for making clocks for ships, flying across the Atlantic Ocean first, creating private spaceships, and making self-driving cars.
People like these contests because you only get the prize money if you finish the challenge. Long ago, experts said the US government should have more contests like this for science and technology. Because of this advice, and help from the X PRIZE team, NASA started the Centennial Challenges.
NASA is one of the top three US government groups that buy a lot of things. The other two are the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. Now, the Department of Energy might start their own prize for new ideas about hydrogen energy. The idea of these prizes is to help more people try new things, even if they don't usually work with the government.
Space technology helps us explore and use space. It includes things like spacecraft, satellites, and space stations. These are important for many services on Earth, such as weather reports, understanding the Earth, and TV stations. Space technology can lead to new inventions that help other parts of our world too.
A long time ago, the first thing to go to space was from the Soviet Union. This first satellite was called Sputnik 1 and it went into space on October 4, 1957. It sent back information by making radio beeps. The first person in space was Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union in 1961. His space trip was controlled from the ground because people were not sure how being in space would affect him. The Soviet Union also sent the first probe to touch the Moon in 1959. A probe is like a space robot that can take pictures or collect information. The other side of the Moon was also photographed by the Soviet Union.
In 1968, three American astronauts on Apollo 8 flew around the Moon. They were the first people to see the whole planet Earth from space.