# Lunar Assay via Small Satellite Orbiter (LASSO)

**R-2A activity** of project ACS-01 — ALL DOMAIN TACTICAL TECHNOLOGIES  
**Program element:** 0602023E — Access AND Awareness  
**Component:** Defense-Wide · **Budget Activity:** 2  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602023E/ACS-01/a1  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602023E/ACS-01

## Summary

This activity requests $19.9M in FY2027, 20% of project ACS-01, up 1.3% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** - Build software- in-the-loop simulations (SWIL) to verify mission planning and subsystem performance. - Conduct closed-loop SWIL testing with applied vehicle and payload concept constraints. - Verify that sufficient control authority is maintained by autonomous navigation and enhanced efficiency propulsion systems. - Verify spacecraft payload viability for sensing resolution and coverage through orbital mission simulation. - Conduct Preliminary Design Review (PDR) and subsystem validation testing.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The FY 2027 increase reflects a shift from CoDR and prototype testing to PDR and validation testing.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** - Conduct feasibility analysis for optimized spacecraft navigation, propulsion, and sensing for cislunar operations, including resource exploration. - Conduct System Requirements Review (SRR) and Conceptual Design Review (CoDR) for the LASSO spacecraft. - Build lunar mining lifecycle economic model. - Conduct prototype testing of critical sub-systems for lunar resource exploration spacecraft. - Build very low lunar orbital simulation with full lunar variable gravity model.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | Enacted | 19.6 |
| FY2027 | Request | 19.9 |

> Prior, current and budget year only — an R-2A activity carries no five-year plan. It sums exactly into its project in the request year and not necessarily in any other.

## Other activities in project ACS-01

- [All Domain Tactical Technologies Studies and Concepts](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602023E/ACS-01/a4) — FY2027 33.5
- [Cyber Physical systems Executing in Real time (CyPhER) Forge](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602023E/ACS-01/a0) — FY2027 30.4
- [Albatross](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0602023E/ACS-01/a2) — FY2027 11.1
- Next Generation Electronic Surveillance Technology (NGEST) — FY2027 6.9
- Oversight — FY2027 —
- Expeditionary Carbon Utilization for energy Resilience and Stabilization (ExCURSion) — FY2027 —
- Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency (RACER) — FY2027 —

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Office of the Secretary of Defense RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0602023E project ACS-01 (PB PB2027). Narrative is the government's own text.
- **No marks, no contractors at this grain** — congressional marks land on the program element and R-3 performers on the project.
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_activity`.

*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Budget figures are requests/estimates, not obligations.*