Moon rush: These private spacecraft will attempt lunar landings in 2026
Lunar landers from Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic are gearing up for moon landing attempts in 2026 as the commercial exploration of deep space expands.
Artist's illustration of Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 lander on the lunar surface (Image credit: Blue Origin)
2026 is shaping up to be a spectacular year for lunar exploration, with a growing fleet of commercial missions set to attempt to land on Earth's celestial neighbor.
It will be a huge year for the moon overall. NASA plans to send humans back to the vicinity of the moon with the Artemis 2 mission no earlier than February, while China, in the second half of the year, aims to land at the lunar south pole and seek out water ice with its robotic Chang'e 7 spacecraft. But it's not only national agencies targeting Earth's companion, as commercial companies are also taking aim with a series of robotic landers at what could be the start of a sustained, more market-driven lunar presence for humanity.
Blue Origin: Blue Moon Pathfinder Mission 1
Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin is set to take its first shot at the moon with the Blue Moon Mark 1 pathfinder. The robotic lander is due to launch on a New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral as soon as early 2026, the company said in November, soon after the rocket successfully launched NASA's ESCAPADE Mars mission.
The mission is designed to be a technology demonstration of the Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo lander design, including precision landing systems and propulsion tech that will support later commercial and NASA payload deliveries to the lunar surface, with a capacity of up to 6,600 pounds (3,000 kilograms).
The lander will target the lunar south pole and will carry a NASA SCALPSS payload that will study how the lander's exhaust interacts with the moon's surface during the landing. There's a lot at stake: Blue Origin is a prime contractor for NASA's Human Landing System (HLS) with its Blue Moon lander, which is intended to land astronauts on the moon later this decade, making Mark 1 pathfinder a key rehearsal.
Firefly: Blue Ghost M2
Texas-based Firefly is gearing up to return to the moon one year after its of Blue Ghost in Mare Crisium on the near side. Blue Ghost M2 is the next step in the company's push to become a repeatable commercial lunar delivery provider. It will fly as part of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, while also carrying commercial and international payloads.
