Science

What this funds

NASA is maximizing the lunar science achieved in this era of lunar exploration through science planning support for Artemis architecture formulation, including support for tool development and astronaut geology training. This project also supports Artemis-specific curation activities to prepare for the return of new lunar samples, such as those containing volatiles or requiring cold curation. It supports surface operations development, including analog activities to help NASA develop a real-time science support room structure and science team integration. Development of the Science Evaluation Room in Mission Control was completed in July 2025 and will be used to support real-time science ops for Artemis II and beyond. In addition, targeted research and analysis funding will prepare the lunar community to take maximum advantage of data and samples from Artemis and CLPS. The Planetary Missions Program Office (PMPO) at MSFC manages Planetary Science flight projects that are not part of the Mars Exploration Program, including elements of the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program (LDEP) portfolio, such as the LSITP and PRISM payloads selected for lunar delivery by CLPS landers as well as Artemis Instruments awards. PMPO provides programmatic, technical, and business management of these LDEP activities. Lunar Management also includes support for review boards and external technical support as needed and future mission studies. Lunar Future supports future activities, studies, instruments, and missions to enable longer-term lunar science and exploration goals. In 2022, the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey identified potential new strategic missions to accomplish on the Moon and NASA has conducted early preformulation studies for some selected concepts. As funding becomes available in future years, NASA will perform further studies to address these potential strategic missions as defined in the Decadal alongside other strategic goals for science and exploration near and on the Moon. This budget includes funding for Lunar Volatiles Science activities using the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER). In September 2025, NASA awarded Blue Origin a CLPS task order with an option to deliver the VIPER rover to the Moon's South Pole region. NASA's VIPER will search for volatile resources, such as ice, on the lunar surface and collect science data to support future exploration at the Moon and Mars. NASA previously cancelled the VIPER project due to projected budget and schedule growth, and has since explored alternative approaches using the already developed VIPER hardware to achieve the agency's goals of mapping potential off-planet resources, like water. Under the CLPS contract, Blue Origin will deliver VIPER to the surface in early FY 2028, and NASA will conduct the rover operations, science planning, and volatiles measurements. The LRO mission continues to conduct priority science investigations and acquire valuable data sets that provide support for commercial lunar deliveries under the CLPS project and for human exploration. LRO Science: Planetary Science: Lunar Discovery and Exploration has contributed to a new understanding of the Moon and its evolution, which provides a foundation for investigations include a focus on lunar volatiles like ice and water and can help scientists answer questions about the nature of these volatiles. LRO has also been characterizing the thermal history of the Moon by identifying unusual volcanic features that may be geologically young, as well as tectonic features that reflect the continued gravitational pull from the Earth. Scientists use the instrument suite on LRO to characterize the rate at which volatiles move across the surface, the development of the regolith on different terrains, and the location and composition of unusual rock types on the surface. LRO's ongoing characterization of the lunar surface ultimately enables and reduces risk associated with commercial and human exploration initiatives. LRO will characterize areas that may contain volatiles at or near the surface as well as landing sites for upcoming U.S. commercial lunar lander missions. LRO is also providing data products to support current and future Artemis missions. LRO will begin its sixth Extended Mission and remains a key data source for lunar science as well as exploration risk reduction.

Extracted from NASA, p. 2. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

Contracts funded by this line

1793 linked contracts. These are obligations — lifetime awarded money — and they are not comparable to the request above and are never added to it. No total is shown: an award linked to several lines is counted in full on each, so the sum would not be a fact.

Showing 8 of 1793 — most confidently matched first, largest within a confidence tier. These are not necessarily the largest 8.

Confidence mix · 1793 certain

Linked contracts are a floor, not a census. Coverage is bounded by how distinctively a program is named and, for performer links, to RDT&E and Procurement — O&M and military construction publish no performers. Budget figures are FY2027 request dollars; contract figures are obligations. The two measure different things and must never be summed together.

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