US announces $600 million moon mission contract to advance moon base construction.

The latest arrangement of the moon base construction project announced by NASA on June 30th has signed contracts totaling nearly $600 million with three American companies and will execute four new moon landing missions by the end of 2028. These three companies will be responsible for delivering scientific payloads of NASA to the lunar surface. Among them, SpaceX's contract is around $298 million and will perform two delivery missions; Firefly Aerospace's contract is around $144 million, and Intuitive Machines' contract is around $148 million, each performing one delivery mission. According to NASA's news release, each landing mission will carry three scientific payloads, including a stereo camera system to study the impact of landing engine plumes on lunar dust, a laser reflector array for lunar surface positioning and navigation, and an energy transfer spectrometer for monitoring the lunar radiation environment. Carrying the same scientific instruments on multiple landers helps evaluate potential risks during landing and build a network of lunar environmental data and location markers. NASA is advancing the moon base construction project to promote long-term human presence on the lunar surface, conduct scientific research and commercial activities, and lay the groundwork for future manned Mars exploration missions. The news release stated that these new contracts will play an important role in the construction of lunar surface infrastructure.