NASAConstanellis Aerospace
Programs
Five programs, one architecture for permanent operations on the Moon.
- 01
Manufacturing · Industrial base
FORGE
Fabrication, Origination, Refinement, Grade Engineering
American precision manufacturing, from the factory floor to the lunar surface. Precision hardware built to print and qualified under vacuum across temperature today, and the process control that additive manufacturing and in-situ resource use need before anyone builds on the Moon.
Accepting workFoundation - 02
Surface power · Lunar logistics
ATLAS
Advanced Terrain-Landing Autonomous System
Surface power and logistics for the lunar south pole. Generation, storage and distribution that run through the lunar night, and the logistics that move payloads and material across the polar region.
Phase 2Utilization · Permanence - 03
Cislunar communications · Operations
HERMES
High-Efficiency Rendezvous, Maneuver & Execution System
Terminals and operations for lunar networks. Relay constellations for the Moon are now under contract. HERMES is the other end of the link: the terminals, delay-tolerant software and operations every lander, rover and instrument needs to use them.
In developmentAccess · Permanence - 04
Power beaming · Networks
WIRES
Wireless Infrastructure for Remote Exploration Systems
Power beaming and links, independently measured. Power and signal delivered across cislunar distances and into shadowed craters, with independent measurement of what reaches the receiver.
In developmentUtilization - 05
Lunar economy data
NEXUS
Neural EXploration Unified System
The price index and supply map of the lunar economy. What it costs to deliver, produce and operate on the Moon, who supplies what, and where demand outruns supply.
In developmentAll phases
Constraint to program
| Night · 354 h | About fifteen Earth days without sunlight, every month. Power has to be stored, beamed or generated through it. ATLAS · WIRES. |
|---|---|
| Cold · −230 °C | Inside the permanently shadowed craters where the water ice is. Hardware has to be qualified for it before it flies. FORGE. |
| Distance · 41% | Of the surface never faces Earth. The rest is 1.28 light-seconds away, and every mission competes for the same antennas. HERMES. |
| Cost · $100k | Per kilogram, at the delivery price advertised for the next generation of landers. Every kilogram has to justify itself. NEXUS. |