- Impulse attributes two firm-fixed-price NASA VADR orders and a 2028 start to its own November 7 announcement.
- The plan uses Falcon 9 for one mission and Terran R, Helios and a lander for the other.
- NASA's roughly $1.3 billion figure covers six transport demonstration orders across three providers.
Impulse Space says it has won two firm-fixed-price NASA task orders for Moon logistics demonstrations planned from 2028, with SpaceX and Relativity providing the launches. Reaching Earth orbit is only the opening move. 1
The first mission pairs Falcon 9 with a NASA payload and potentially Impulse's Mira spacecraft for cislunar operations. The second uses Relativity's Terran R to put the Helios kick stage and a lander into Earth orbit. Helios supplies the next push; the lander deploys NASA payloads into cislunar orbits before testing a descent profile for larger surface cargo deliveries. 1
Those handoffs matter because a launch and a lunar landing are different jobs. The orders cover planned demonstrations of transport links, not proof that the full route already works.
NASA lists six transport-demonstration task orders worth about $1.3 billion combined across three providers. That is not an Impulse-only award value. The two-order detail and 2028 timing come from the company. 12
Bloomboff's take
Orbit is the departure lounge. The Moon is still a bastard of a delivery address. NASA is ordering a chain of handoffs; the delivery receipts still lie ahead.
