WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — NASA will host a media teleconference at 4:30 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 18, to announce additional American companies joining the competitive pool for delivery services to the surface of the Moon through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)  project.

The teleconference audio and supporting visuals will stream live on the agency’s website.

In July, NASA announced an opportunity for American companies to join the CLPS contract to deliver larger, heavier payloads to lunar surface. The newly selected companies, along with the original nine selected in November 2018, all will be eligible to bid on future lunar delivery services, including task orders for heavier payloads, as well as payload integration and operations.

The investigations and demonstrations launching on CLPS flights will help NASA study the Moon as it prepares to send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface by 2024 through the agency’s Artemis program, with eventual human missions to Mars.

The teleconference participants are:

• Steve Clarke, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
• Chris Culbert, CLPS project manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
• Representatives from the newly selected service providers

To participate by phone, media must contact Johnson’s newsroom at 281-483-5111 by noon (11 a.m. CST) Nov. 18.

For more information about NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/clps

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SOURCE NASA