GA-EMS on Draper Team Set to Deliver NASA-Sponsored Science Payloads to the Moon

• Draper awarded NASA contract to deliver science payloads to the Schrodinger basin on the lunar surface. GA-EMS on Draper Team to perform payload integration and test

CAMBRIDGE, MA, July 21. Draper, a company with a heritage in space exploration from the earliest stages of Apollo to the most recent Artemis awards, announced that NASA has awarded Draper $73 million to deliver a suite of three NASA-sponsored science payloads to the Schrödinger basin on the lunar surface. Schrödinger basin is on the far side of the Moon—a first for NASA.

Draper, as prime contractor, will lead a team that brings extensive and highly relevant experience in space, with partners that include General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, ispace technologies US Team and Systima Technologies, a division of Karman Space & Defense. Team Draper will deliver the payloads in 2025 in fulfillment of Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order CP-12, managed by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

“Draper and its teammates are honored to be selected by NASA to deliver these important payloads to the lunar surface, paving the way for human and robotic exploration missions to follow. With our heritage in space exploration, originating with the Apollo Program, and our deep roots and broad technology presence in the space sector, Draper is poised to ensure US preeminence in the commercialization of cislunar space,” said Draper’s Principal Director of Civil and Commercial Space Systems, Pete Paceley.

Each Draper Team partner brings industry-leading solutions:

• Draper, as prime contractor, will provide the descent guidance, navigation and control system for the lunar lander, and overall program management, systems engineering, integration and test, and mission and quality assurance.
• General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems will perform payload integration and test.
• ispace technologies US (ispace US) will serve as the design agent, leveraging use of their made-in-the-USA SERIES-2 lander.
• Systima Technologies, a division of Karman Space & Defense, will lead lander manufacturing and assembly, integration and test.

Schrödinger basin is a large impact crater near the lunar South Pole. The basin is one of a few locations on the Moon that shows evidence of geologically recent volcanic activity, including lava flows and eruptions from vents. The CP-12 flight will deliver three payloads of scientific equipment to measure the Moon’s seismic and thermomechanical activity, and capture details about the magnetic field, electrical activity, heat flow and surface weathering.

As a result of the far side landing, the lander and payloads will require a communications relay capability to communicate with Mission Control Center on Earth. To fulfill this need, Team Draper will deploy two relay satellites, built by Blue Canyon Technologies, in the cislunar orbit before the lunar landing. Advanced Space will support the team in the mission planning and operations of the satellites.

CP-12 will make possible the kind of geophysical observations from the surface of the Moon that have consistently remained a high priority among the lunar community.