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Resources

"The celestial economy runs on resources. We track the bids."

Space Resources Tracker — ISRU, Mining & Energy Contracts

The Resources page tracks every active and pending solicitation for space resource utilization, from lunar ice extraction and regolith processing to asteroid mining ventures, propellant depot development, and fission power systems. Browse active resource solicitations, follow the water ice programs, or explore space energy generation. For the full ranked view across all destinations, visit the 2026 tracker. For real-time bid updates, watch the live ABOI feed.

Latest Analysis

EDITORIAL STEM

NASA / ICONopen

Project Olympus | Printing the Moon's Landing Pads

$57.2MActive development

ICON's $57.2M NASA award develops autonomous regolith 3D printing for landing pads, roads, and blast shields. The first construction-scale ISRU contract, and the clear leader in printing the Moon's first hard infrastructure.

EDITORIAL STEM

NASA KENNEDYopen

MSolo | Sniffing the Moon for Water

Sources SoughtDue Aug 3, 2026

NASA Kennedy's MSolo mass spectrometer measures the gases coming off lunar operations, confirming where the ice actually is before anyone commits to mining it. The measurement layer beneath the headlines.

EDITORIAL STEM

INTERLUNE / DOEopen

The Helium-3 Order Book | Interlune and the DOE's Historic Buy

$6.9M SBIR IIIFirst gov buy

Interlune's NASA SBIR III funds helium-3 extraction, and the DOE made the first US government purchase of a lunar resource. At $2,000 to $17,000 a liter, the order book opens without waiting for fusion.

EDITORIAL STEM

NASA / DOEopen

Fission Surface Power | The Reactor Race for Base Camp

$500M2030 mandate

Westinghouse, Lockheed, and IX are competing to build a 40 kWe reactor that survives the two-week lunar night, forced by an executive order mandating a launch-ready unit by 2030. Solar alone cannot run a polar base.

EDITORIAL STEM

NASA / IMopen

PRIME-1 | The First Drill Into Lunar Ice

On IM-2Awaiting launch

The first attempt to drill into and excavate subsurface lunar ice, carrying VIPER's TRIDENT drill and MSOLO on Intuitive Machines' IM-2 lander. Ground truth on whether the ice is workable, not just present.

EDITORIAL STEM

NASAopen

VIPER's Ghost | The Ice Rover NASA Cancelled

CancelledGap in data

NASA cancelled the VIPER ice rover after a $450M overrun, leaving the clearest planned ice-survey mission dead. The instruments live on smaller landers, but the rover-class map of the ice is gone.

EDITORIAL STEM

SPACEX / NASAopen

Starship Refueling | The 1,000-Ton Problem on Artemis's Critical Path

Critical pathTransfer demo

No crewed lunar landing happens without transferring over 1,000 tons of propellant in orbit, an operation a thousand times larger than anything attempted. The depot architecture Artemis quietly depends on.

EDITORIAL STEM

ORBIT FABopen

Orbit Fab | The Gas Station Standard for Orbit

$30K/portTanker on orbit

The Space Force-endorsed refueling interface standard already has a tanker on orbit. Two propellant economies are emerging, storable and cryogenic, and whoever sets the nozzle standard owns the gas station.

EDITORIAL STEM

CALTECH / ESAopen

Space Solar | Caltech Beamed Power From Orbit, Now What

Research phaseDemo done 2023

Caltech beamed power from orbit to Earth for the first time in 2023, and ESA's SOLARIS is advancing in parallel. The proof exists; the question is whether anyone funds the leap from watts to megawatts.

Active RFPs

SOL-2026-NASA-FSP-P2

NASAopen

Fission Surface Power | Phase 2 Flight Unit Development

$500M est.Due Apr 28, 2026

NASA soliciting proposals for flight-qualified 40 kWe fission reactor for the lunar surface. Phase 1 designs complete from Lockheed Martin/BWXT, Westinghouse, and IX. 2030 launch mandate from Executive Order.

SOL-2026-DARPA-DRACO

DARPAopen

DARPA DRACO | Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Orbit Demo

TBDDue Dec 1, 2027

First US nuclear propulsion flight test since NERVA (1960s-70s). Lockheed Martin and BWX Technologies. 2-5x fuel efficiency over chemical propulsion. Orbit demonstration targeting 2027.

SOL-2026-NASA-CLPS-ISRU

NASAopen

CLPS Lunar ISRU Payload Delivery | Oxygen Extraction Demo

~$120MDue Jun 30, 2026

NASA soliciting CLPS delivery of ISRU oxygen extraction demonstrator to lunar surface. Targeting 10 kg/day O2 production from regolith as pathfinder for sustained operations.

SOL-2026-NASA-PRIME1

NASAclosing

PRIME-1 Ice Drill | IM-2 Lunar Delivery

Included in IM-2Due Jun 1, 2026

First subsurface ice excavation attempt on the Moon. VIPER's TRIDENT drill and MSOLO spectrometer on Intuitive Machines' IM-2 lander. Awaiting launch.

SOL-2025-SDA-SBIR-OPT

SDAclosed

SDA SBIR | Optical Communication Terminal Technology

Phase I/IIClosed Mar 1, 2026

Small Business Innovation Research for advanced optical communication terminals supporting propellant depot and ISRU monitoring applications in future PWSA tranches.

Water Ice

PROGRAM TRACKER

NASAcancelled

VIPER Lunar Ice Rover

$450M+ overrunCancelled Jul 2024

Cancellation left a critical gap in lunar ice ground-truth data. No rover-class ice survey on the near-term manifest. TRIDENT drill and MSOLO spectrometer carried forward on PRIME-1.

PROGRAM TRACKER

NASAAwaiting Launch

PRIME-1 (IM-2 Mission)

Included in IM-2Awaiting IM-2 launch

First subsurface ice excavation attempt on the Moon. Carries VIPER's TRIDENT drill and MSOLO spectrometer on Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander.

PROGRAM TRACKER

JAXA/ISROIn Development

LUPEX Lunar Polar Exploration

TBDLate 2020s

Joint JAXA-ISRO mission with 6-month rover and 1.5m drill. May become the most comprehensive polar ice survey if it launches as planned.

Metals & Regolith

PROGRAM TRACKER

NASAactive

Lunar ISRU Oxygen from Regolith

Multiple contractsPre-deployment development

Oxygen is 43% of regolith by mass and 70-85% of bipropellant mass, making it the highest-leverage ISRU product. Carbothermal reduction and molten electrolysis both produce metal byproducts.

PROGRAM TRACKER

REDWIREactive

Redwire Regolith Processing

TRL 3-5Ground demos active

Only company with an operating space manufacturing facility (ISS AMF). Building toward a commercial regolith processing service model.

Helium-3

COMMERCIAL

INTERLUNEEarly Stage

Interlune Lunar He-3 Extraction

Seed fundedNear-term markets: medical, quantum

Only commercial entity focused exclusively on lunar He-3. Business case stands on near-term markets (medical, quantum, security) without requiring fusion. He-3 prices of $2,000-$17,000/liter make small return quantities viable.

PROGRAM TRACKER

CNSAactive

China Chang'e He-3 Program

State fundedILRS integration

China has explicitly framed He-3 as a strategic energy security asset. Sample analysis ongoing; extraction planning integrated with ILRS lunar base program.

Asteroid Mining

COMMERCIAL

ASTROFORGEactive

AstroForge Asteroid Mining

$55M+ raisedTwo missions flown

Fastest asteroid mining company ever — two missions in two years. Core extraction-and-return challenge remains undemonstrated. Learned from Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries failures.

COMMERCIAL

TRANSASTRAactive

TransAstra Optical Mining

NASA NIAC/SBIRTechnology development

Concentrated sunlight approach fundamentally different from mechanical extraction. Targets water and propellant rather than metals. NASA NIAC and SBIR funded.

Propellant Depots

PROGRAM TRACKER

SPACEXIn Development

Starship Orbital Refueling

Artemis critical pathFirst transfer demo 2025

Artemis critical path — no crewed lunar landing without transferring ~1,000+ metric tons of propellant in orbit, an operation 1,000x larger than anything previously attempted.

PROGRAM TRACKER

ORBIT FABactive

Orbit Fab RAFTI & Fuel Depot

$30K/portTanker-001 on orbit

Leading refueling interface standard with Space Force endorsement. Tanker-001 already on orbit. RAFTI qualified. Two parallel propellant economies emerging: storable and cryogenic.

Energy Generation

PROGRAM TRACKER

NASAIn Development

Fission Surface Power (40 kWe)

$500MPhase 1 designs complete

Essential for operations in permanently shadowed regions and surviving the 14-day lunar night. Solar power alone cannot support sustained polar bases. Lockheed Martin, IX, and Westinghouse as contractors.

PROGRAM TRACKER

DARPAIn Development

DRACO Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

TBDOrbit demo targeting 2027

First US nuclear propulsion flight test since NERVA (1960s-70s). 2-5x fuel efficiency over chemical propulsion transforms deep-space transit economics. Lockheed Martin and BWX Technologies.

PROGRAM TRACKER

CALTECH/ESAactive

Space Solar Power (SSPP / SOLARIS)

Research phaseSSPD-1 demo completed 2023

Caltech achieved the first-ever wireless power transmission from orbit to Earth (SSPD-1, 2023). Foundational proof-of-concept for space-based solar power. ESA SOLARIS program advancing in parallel.