NASA Picks SpaceX Starship for a New Moon Mission in 2028

NASA has selected SpaceX to launch communications satellites into the space between Earth and the Moon on Starship in 2028, giving the rocket another role in the agency’s Moon Base plans.

The mission, called the Cislunar Communications Deployment Demonstration, was announced by NASA on November 7 as part of a wider package of lunar transportation, science and infrastructure awards. The agency shared the news at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX will carry out the flight through a Specialized Delivery Mission task order under an existing lunar logistics contract. NASA says the demonstration will help shape future communications networks connecting astronauts, mission controllers and the Moon Base.

The announcement does not disclose the task order’s value, the number of satellites or their exact orbits. It describes a satellite deployment mission in cislunar space, rather than a Starship landing on the Moon.

SpaceX joins $10 billion lunar delivery program

NASA also named SpaceX as one of eight companies eligible to compete for future missions under CLPS 2, the next phase of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.

The 10-year framework has a combined maximum value of $10 billion across all participating companies. SpaceX joins Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ispace-U.S., Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems and Voyager Technologies.

Those companies will compete to deliver NASA science instruments, technology and infrastructure to the lunar surface. The $10 billion figure is the program’s shared ceiling, not an individual award to SpaceX, and the selection does not itself assign the company a specific surface delivery.

“We are building the Moon Base mission by mission,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.

The communications flight adds another piece to SpaceX’s lunar work. NASA recently showed the crew cabin under construction for its Starship Moon lander, alongside a development schedule covering propellant-transfer testing and an uncrewed lunar landing demonstration.

Closer to home, SpaceX has outlined a Starship Flight 15 plan targeting the spacecraft’s first tower catch. Flight 15 is targeting November 13, pending regulatory approval, while the NASA satellite deployment is planned for 2028.