ispace-U.S. was selected as a NASA CLPS 2 contractor and will be able to submit proposals and bid as a prime contractor for lunar transportation missions. The selection was announced at MAX POWER on 7 November.
ispace-U.S. was selected as a contractor under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services 2 (CLPS 2) program and will be able to propose, as a prime contractor, services ranging from payload integration onto lunar transportation vehicles to operations on the lunar surface. It has participated in CLPS-related activities as a subcontractor to date, but will now have the opportunity to win contracts directly. The announcement was made on 7 November U.S. time at the MAX POWER event held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The overall ceiling for CLPS 2 contracts is reportedly $10 billion. The program uses an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) structure, under which individual projects are ordered as needed without fixing the timing or quantity of orders. The standard contract period is 10 years, with an extension option providing for a maximum period of 15 years. 8 companies, including ispace-U.S., were selected under the framework and will compete for individual contracts.