NASA on Tuesday broadened its use of commercial space providers, awarding a $176.7 million task order to Firefly Aerospace to ferry two autonomous rovers and three scientific instruments to the Moon’s south pole in 2029. The mission, issued under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, will be the first CLPS flight to carry multiple rovers, and is expected to help identify water-ice and other resources critical to future Artemis human landings. Separately, NASA’s Launch Services Program selected six U.S. companies to conduct nine studies on lower-cost orbital transfer vehicles capable of delivering satellites to hard-to-reach orbits beyond current launch offerings. The firm-fixed-price awards, worth up to $1.4 million in total and funded through the agency’s VADR contracting vehicle, were given to Arrow Science and Technology, Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Impulse Space, Rocket Lab and United Launch Alliance. The studies are due by mid-September and will inform future acquisition strategies for risk-tolerant science payloads.